Christ destroyed death to bring us life

[Weedy]

Christ destroyed death to bring us life

"God's compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ
died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the
sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the
sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us,
something he could offer on our behalf. The power of his death once
confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet: Death, I
shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying he
submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed
them. He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to
make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so
all will be brought to life in Christ."
--from a sermon by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.

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March 28th - Bl. Joan de Maille

(1332-1414)
Joan Mary de Maille (or Maillac) was the daughter of a nobleman of the
province of Touraine, France. From very early childhood Joan showed
unusual piety. She is said to have saved from drowning, by her
prayers, a neighborhood boy, Robert de Sille, who fell into a pond
while they and other children were at play.

After his rescue, young Robert became very attached to Joan. When they
were old enough to marry, Joan’s grandfather arranged a match between
them. Joan Marie really wanted to enter a convent, but obedience to
parents in such matters was required in those days.

Fortunately, Robert was as devout as his wife, and they agreed to live
together after the wedding as brother and sister. Now he succeeded as
baron, and he and his wife saw to it that in their castle Christian
ideals were upheld. They adopted three orphans; they attended to the
needs of the local poor; and they forbade gambling and improper
language among their householders.

These were the days in which the English were trying to win control of
France. Baron Robert naturally took the side of the French king, but
he was wounded at the battle of Poitiers and left for dead. Later, the
British troops captured his castle and took him prisoner. They
demanded the huge sum of 3,000 florins as ransom. Baroness Joan sold
her jewels and horses to pay it, but she still had to borrow to make
up the full amount demanded. Eventually, it is said, Our Lady herself
released the baron, appearing to him in a dream and breaking his
bonds.

The devout couple simply redoubled their charities once they were
reunited, focusing especially on the ransoming of other prisoners.

Unfortunately, Robert died in 1362. His widow now had not only her
personal grief to bear, but also the unkindness of her husband’s
family. Blaming her for having induced him to give too much to
charity, they deprived her of her widow’s inheritance and drove her
out of her home. She first turned for shelter to an old servant; but
the servant, knowing that her former mistress was now impoverished,
treated her harshly. Later she went to live with her mother. The
mother, however, tried to get her to remarry, for Joan was still young
and attractive.

The widow finally escaped this annoyance by moving to the city of
Tours and settling in a little house near the shrine of St. Martin.
Here she engaged in prayer, attendance at church services, and the
care of the poor and ailing.

Even now her trials were many. Once while she was praying in church a
madwoman threw a stone at her, which injured her back severely.
Although the injury was declared incurable and the scar never left
her, she was healed by a miracle, and eventually able to resume her
devotional life.

Joan now became a Franciscan tertiary, and thereafter wore the habit
of the Franciscan order. After a serious illness, in the spirit of
Franciscan poverty, she decided to give all the property that had been
returned to her or might become hers to the Carthusian monks of Liget.
Her relatives were furious at her action and when she returned to
Tours without a cent, nobody would give her shelter. She had to beg
food from door to door, and to sleep in abandoned buildings. She was
finally admitted among the servants in the local hospital, but even
then her holiness made them jealous, and they plagued her until she
was thrown out.

Eventually Joan Mary found a refuge, and recommenced her good works.
While some still considered her insane, or a witch, the wiser folk of
Tours recognized her sanctity. Miracles of healing were attributed to
her. Prophetic insight was also hers, often to her own embarrassment.
Some revelations of future events were so important that she felt
duty-bound to communicate them to the king of France.

In her later years particularly, Joan increased her attention to those
in prison, whether as captive of war or even jailed. On one occasion
she succeeded in persuading the king to free all the prisoners in
Tours. Her solicitude for the imprisoned doubtless sprang from the
remembrance of the bitter captivity, years before, of her own dear
husband. But concern for the jailed was also, of course, one of the
corporal works of mercy listed by Jesus as meritorious of heaven: “I
was ill and you comforted me, in prison and you came to visit me.”
(Matt. 25:36). Marginalized herself, she became patron of the
marginalized.

–Father Robert


Saint Quote:
We must say many prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, for
one must be so pure to enter heaven.
--Saint John Vianney

Reflection:
Yes, we have the span of our lifetimes to accept or reject Jesus as
our Savior. When our "time" is past if we have not accepted His gift
of salvation, there will be only judgment!


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Mary receives both a crown of joy and a cross of sorrow

Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph and he prophesied to Mary about the
destiny of this child and the suffering she would undergo for his
sake. There is a certain paradox for those blessed by the Lord. Mary
was given the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God. That
blessedness also would become a sword which pierced her heart as her
Son died upon the cross. She received both a crown of joy and a cross
of sorrow. But her joy was not diminished by her sorrow because it was
fueled by her faith, hope, and trust in God and his promises. Jesus
promised his disciples that "no one will take your joy from you" (John
16:22). The Lord gives us a supernatural joy which enables us to bear
any sorrow or pain and which neither life nor death can take way. Do
you know the peace and joy of a life surrendered to God with faith and
trust?