On the Evils of Curiosity:

[Rich]

On the Evils of Curiosity:

CHRIST.
Beware of vain curiosity, My son, and do not busy yourself in
profitless matters (I Tim. 5:13) what are they to you? Follow me.(John
21:22) What concern is it of yours whether a man is good or evil, or
what he says and does? You will not be called on to answer for others,
but you will certainly have to give a full account of your own
life.(Rom.14:12) Why, then, must you meddle where you have no need? I
know the hearts of all men, and nothing under the sun is hid from My
knowledge. I know the life of every man - his thoughts, his desires
and his intentions. Therefore trust yourself entirely to My care, and
let your heart be at peace. Let the meddlesome man trouble himself as
he will; his words and deeds will recoil on his own head, for he
cannot deceive Me.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 24

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4 July – St Elizabeth of Portugal T.O.S.F.

(1271-1336)
Queen Consort, Franciscan Tertiary, Apostle of Charity and Peace,
political negotiator and mediator – also known as Elizabeth of Aragon,
Elisabet in Catalan, Isabel in Aragonese, Portuguese and Spanish and
The Peacemaker, born in 1271 at Aragon, Spain and died on 4 July 1336
at Estremoz, Portugal of a fever. Patronages – Coimbra, Diocese of San
Cristóbal de La Laguna, Cathedral of La Laguna.

Elizabeth means “Promise of God”
Saint Elizabeth was the daughter of King Peter III of this kingdom and
niece of King James the Conqueror, great-niece of Emperor Frederick II
of Germany. They gave her the name Elizabeth after her aunt, Saint
Elizabeth of Hungary.

Her formation was formidable and from the time she was very young she
had a notable piety. She was taught that, in order to be truly good,
she ought to include mortification of her likes and whims along with
her prayer. She was careful to order her life toward the love of God
and neighbour, disciplining her habits of life. She did not eat
between meals.

She was married at the age of 12 to King Dionysius of Portugal. This
was a great cross for Elizabeth because he was a man of little morals,
being violent an unfaithful. But she endured heroically this trial.
She prayed and offered many sacrifices for him. She always treated him
with goodness. They had two sons: Alfonso, the future king of
Portugal and Constance, future king of Castille. Saint Elizabeth even
educated the natural sons of her husband with other women. The king,
for his part, admired her and permitted her to live an authentic
Christian life, to a certain degree. She would rise very early in the
morning and read six psalms, attend Holy Mass and dedicated herself to
manage the duties of the palace. In her free time she met with other
women to make clothing for the poor. She dedicated the afternoons to
visiting the elderly and ill.


The Peacemaker:
The son of Elizabeth, Alfonso, had a violent character like his
father. He was filled with anger at the preference his father showed
to his natural children. On two occasions he promoted a civil war
against his father. Elizabeth strived for reconciliation between
father and son. On one occasion she went on pilgrimage to Santarem, a
Eucharistic miracle and, dressed as a penitent, implored the Lord for
peace.
Then she went to present herself on the field of battle and, when the
armies of her spouse and son were about to engage in battle, the queen
kneeled between them and, on her knees, asked her husband and son to
be reconciled.

Some of her letters have been preserved, which reflect gospel values
and audacity of our Saint.
To her husband: “Like an infuriated wolf that is going to kill your
Little son, I will fight so that the arms to the King are not
unleashed against our own son. But at the same time, I will first make
sure that the arms of the army of my son are destroyed, before they
are fired against the followers of his father.”
To her son: “By the Blessed Virgin Mary, I ask that you make peace
with your father. See, the soldiers are burning houses, destroying
crops and breaking everything in pieces. Not with weapons, my son, we
cannot fix the problem with weapons, but rather with dialogue,
continuing negotiations to fix these conflicts. I will make the troops
of the king go away and that the demands of the son be attended to but
please remember, that you have a most serious duty to your father as
his son and as a subject to his king.”

She obtained peace on more than one occasion, and her husband died
repentant, without a doubt due to prayers of his wife.
Because Saint Elizabeth had such a great love for the Eucharist, she
dedicated herself to study the lives of the Saints who were most
notable in their love for the Eucharist and especially Saint Clare.
After becoming a widow, Saint Elizabeth divested herself of all her
riches. She went on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, where she
surrendered her crown to the Archbishop in order to receive the habit
as a Claretian tertiary. The Archbishop was so moved by this act of
the Saint that he gave her his pastoral cross to help her on her
return to Portugal. She lived her last years in the convent, dedicated
to Eucharistic adoration.

When a war broke out between her son and her son-in-law, the King of
Castille, Saint Elizabeth, despite her old age, undertook a long
journey by dangerous roads and obtained peace. Nevertheless, the trip
cost her life. Feeling herself close to death, she asked to be taken
to a Claretian convent that she herself had founded. There she died
invoking Our Lady on 4 July 1336.

God blessed her tomb with miracles. Her body can be venerated in the
Claretian convent in Coimbra. She was Canonised on 25 May 1625 by Pope
Urban VIII.

https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/04/


Saint Quote:
“Every one of you knows that the foundation of our religion is
charity. Without it all our religion would crumble because we would
not truly be Catholics, as long as we did not carry out, or rather
shape our whole lives by the two commandments in which the essence of
the Catholic Faith lies: to love God with all our strength and to
love our neighbour as ourselves.”
--.Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati

Bible Quote:
11 Let him decline from evil, and do good: let him seek after peace
and pursue it: 12 Because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and
his ears unto their prayers: but the countenance of the Lord upon them
that do evil things. (1 Peter 3:11-12) DRB

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Seek ye first the Kingdom of God

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things shall be added unto you." We should not seek material things
first, but seek spiritual things first and material things will come
to us, as we honestly work for them. Many people seek material things
first and think they can then grow into knowledge of spiritual things.
You cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time. The first requisites
of an abundant life are the spiritual things: honesty, purity,
unselfishness, and love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of
material things are of little real use to you. I pray that I may put
much effort into acquiring spiritual things. I pray that I may not
expect good things until I am right spiritually.
—From Twenty-Four Hours a Day