The Healing Physician

[Rich]

The Healing Physician

"Be assured that all your diseases will be healed. Have no fear.
You may say that your diseases are powerful; but this physician is
more powerful. There is no disease that the Almighty Physician cannot
cure.
Just allow yourself to be healed and do not reject his healing
hands. He knows what he is doing."
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 72, 32

Prayer: Bring relief to a serious wound with your great medicine. Mine
is serious, but I take refuge in the Almighty. I would despair of such
a grave injury unless I had recourse to a great physician.
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 50, 6

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26 August – Saint Jeanne Elisabeth des Bichier des Anges FC

(1773-1838)
(commonly referred to as St Elisabeth Bichier) and known as “the Good
Sister” – Religious and co-Founder with Saint André Hubert Fournet
of the Sisters of the Cross, Sisters of St Andrew, a religious
congregation which was established for the care of the poor and the
instruction of rural children in the Diocese of Poitiers in 1807. She
also helped to inspire the founding of a community of Priests
dedicated to Missionary service, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus of Betharram.

Saint Jeanne Elisabeth des Bichier des Anges was born in 1773, in the
Chateau des Anges near LeBlanc, France, home of her aristocratic
family. She was one of the four children of the couple and later was
commonly called Elisabeth by her family. Her mother was a very devout
Catholic and ensured that her children were taught how to pray and the
teachings of the Catholic faith. Elisabeth proved a ready student,
already feeling drawn to prayer from her childhood. Her father, the
lord of Anges, sent her to the convent at Poiters to be educated, at
approximately age 10. She did not return home until the death of her
father (to prevent the family’s property from being confiscated by the
state), when she was nineteen years old. On his deathbed, she met
Saint André Fournet, who would play an important role in her future.

Following her father’s death, Elisabeth found herself embroiled in a
court battle to save her family’s property and possessions. Having
studied law, she argued the case in court and won. Expected to marry
and make the property her home, Elisabeth had no intention of
marriage, instead looking only to the Lord. On the back of a picture
of Our Lady, she had written: “I dedicate and consecrate myself to
Jesus and Mary forever.”

With her mother, she moved to La Guimetiere, a town still suffering
greatly from the after-effects of the French Revolution. With no
priest living there, the town had little in the way of religious
guidance or celebration. While living there, Elisabeth began to feel
the loss of the Eucharist in her life, as the local church was being
served by a juring priest, for which it was rejected by the local
people. From her childhood, she had been attracted to contemplation
and she had consecrated herself to the Virgin Mary. Her wish was to
consecrate her life to God in an enclosed religious order but she did
not tell her mother. During this period she used to gather people and
pray with them. Over time, the number of participants grew
prolifically.

After her mother’s death, Elisabeth lived for some time in a Carmelite
community to experience the rigours and benefits of committing to the
Lord. Certain of her call, together with Saint Andrew Fournet (who had
begun a similar group of laity in a nearby city), she founded the
Daughters of the Cross of Saint Andrew—an order to care for the sick
and the poor. Among their other goals was the education of the poor
rural citizens of France.

Known for her honesty and charity, she was well respected in the
community. Following the death of a poor, sick man she had taken in to
help, the police appeared at the convent to question her. They
informed her that the man was an escaped criminal and she had
harboured a fugitive. But Elisabeth was unafraid, replying calmly to
the officer: “I only did what you yourself would have done, sir,” she
said. “I found this poor sick man and took care of him until he died.
I am ready to tell the judge just what happened.”

Appointed the first Superior of the Order, Elisabeth worked tirelessly
to spread the Gospel and establish new houses. In 1816 the community
received Ecclesiastical approval. By 1820 they had expanded again and
a former Monastery of the Order of Fontevrault was obtained in La
Puye, where their Motherhouse was established. It still serves as the
congregation’s headquarters By 1830, shortly before her death—she had
personally established over 60 houses throughout France. They
currently serve or have served around the globe in France, Spain,
Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, the Belgian
Congo, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, China and Thailand.

In Igon, in the Basque country, she met Father Michael Garicoits
(1797-1863) (his life here:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/05/14/saint-of-the-day-14-may-saint-michel-garicoits-1797-1863/),
who served as the Spiritual Adviser of the house there. With her
encouragement, he founded a men’s congregation of the order, named the
Priests of the Sacred Heart of Betharram.

St Elisabeth died in 1838, at which time there were about 600
Daughters of the Cross serving in some 100 communities. She was
Beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1934 and Canonised by Pope Pius XII in
1947. Her remains are enshrined at the Motherhouse in La Puye.

The life of Saint Elisabeth — demonstrates to us that there is much we
can each accomplish in the world—serving the Lord through service to
one another. Saint Elisabeth saw poor uneducated rural communities in
need of spiritual guidance. Through the grace of God and the courage
of this woman, she created the change that was needed. How often do
you see what needs to be done and chose not to do it? How often do we
ignore the call of the Lord to help those in need, those in our own
communities? How might we better the lives of our fellow man in
service to Christ?
The Roman Martyrology states of her: “Glorify God and make Him
Glorified by the little ones and the poor’ was what animated Sister
Elisabeth and her sisters.”

https://anastpaul.com/2020/08/26/

Saint Quote:
If we have obtained the grace of God, none shall prevail against us,
but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us.
--St. John Chrysostom

Bible Quote
And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure
their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you,
they have received their reward. 17. But thou, when thou fastest
anoint thy head, and wash thy face; 18. That thou appear not to men to
fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in
secret, will repay thee. (Matthew 6:16-18)


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Prayer Of Trust

Most Sacred and Adorable Heart of Jesus, I know not what trials may
come to me this day, but I am certain that nothing will happen to me
which Thou hast not foreseen and decreed. I trust Thy love for me in
all and through all and in spite of all.

In all my trials and crosses, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
In dangers and difficulties, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
In doubts and anxieties, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
In failure and disappointment, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my
trust in Thee.
In unemployment, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
In spite of my past, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
In spite of my sins and evil habits, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place
my trust in Thee.
When I cannot pray, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
When my prayers are unanswered, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my
trust in Thee.
When temptations are strongest, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my
trust in Thee.
When my dear ones are in danger, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my
trust in Thee.
In sickness and suffering, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.
At the hour of my death, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.