- 1 Peter 2:9-10 -
Waldtraud
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out
of
darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you
are
the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received
mercy.
__________________________
As a result of God's mercy, we have become a people who are uniquely and
exclusively cared for by God. The fact that we are recipients of His mercy
makes
all the difference in the world as to how we respond in difficult times. He
watches over us with enormous interest. Why? Because of His immense mercy,
freely demonstrated in spite of our not deserving it. What encouraging news!
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March 3rd - St. Teresa Eustochio Verzeri
Teresa Verzeri was born in Bergamo (Italy) on July 31, 1801, the first of
the
seven children of Antonio Verzeri and the countess Elena Pedrocca-Grumelli.
Her
brother, Girolamo, became Bishop of Brescia. Her mother, doubtful of whether
she
should give herself to matrimony or embrace the monastic life, had listened
to
the prophetic word of her aunt, Madre Antonia Grumelli, a Franciscan Poor
Clare
Nun: "God has destined you for this state to become the mother of holy
children."
At a very tender age Teresa learned from her mother, a prominent woman, to
know
and ardently love God. She was led in her spiritual journey by the Canon
Giuseppe Benaglio, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Bergamo, who already
accompanied the family.
Teresa completed her initial studies at home. Intelligent, gifted with an
open
spirit, vigilant, and upright, she was educated to discern, to seek true
values
and to be faithful to the action of grace. From childhood to maturity Teresa
allowed herself to be led by the Spirit of Truth that engaged her in a
constant
and intense spiritual battle: in the light of faith she discovered and
experienced the weight of her own weakness; she unmasked, as far as humanly
possible, every idolatrous form of falsehood, pride, and fear, in order to
surrender totally to God. Through grace, she traveled a road of detachment,
of
purity of intention, of simplicity and straightforwardness that brought her
to
seek "God alone."
Interiorly Teresa lived the special mystic experience of the "absence of
God,"
anticipating something of the religious life of today: the weight of human
solitude before a restless sense of the distance of God. Nevertheless, in
unshakable faith, Teresa never lost her confidence and abandonment to the
living
God, provident and merciful Father, to whom she devoted herself in
obedience.
Her lonely cry, like that of Jesus, became the entrusting of her whole self
through love.
With the intention of pleasing God and doing only his will, her religious
vocation matured at home and in the Benedictine Monastery of St. Grata.
After a
long and tormenting search, she left the Monastery to found the Congregation
of
the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus together with the Canon Giuseppe
Benaglioon February 8, 1831, in Bergamo.
Teresa Verzeri lived during the first half of the 1800s, a time of great
transformation in the history of Italy and the society of Bergamo, marked
with
political changes, revolutions, and persecutions that did not spare the
Church,
which was also wounded by Jansenism and by the crisis of values, resulting
from
the French Revolution.
At a time when the devotion to the Sacred Heart found resistance, she gave
to
the first Daughters of the Sacred Heart this testament that characterizes
the
spiritual patrimony of their religious family: "To you and to your Institute
Jesus Christ has given the precious gift of his Heart, for from no one else
can
you learn holiness, he being the inexhaustible source of true holiness"
(Libro
dei Doveri, vol. III,p. 484).
Teresa saw very clearly the pressing needs of her times. Wherever charity
called, she seized the situation, even the most dangerous and serious, with
absolute availability, and with her first companions she dedicated herself
to
diverse apostolic services: "education of middle-class troubled girls; homes
for
orphans who were at risk, abandoned and even led astray; public schools,
christian doctrine, retreats, holiday recreations and assistance to the
infirm"
(Libro dei Doveri, vol. III, p. 368).
In fulfilling her mission Teresa revealed her special talent as spiritual
guide,
as apostle and as pedagogue. She expressly professed the preventive system:
"cultivate and attentively guard the mind and heart of your little girls
while
they are still young, to prevent as far as possible, any entrance of evil,
it
being better to avert a fall with your warnings and admonitions than to have
to
lift them up again with correction" (cf Pratiche, 1841).
Education is a work of freedom and persuasion, respecting individuality. For
this she recommended that the young be allowed "a holy freedom so that they
may
do willingly and with full agreement that which, oppressed by command, would
only be accomplished as a burden and with violence." In addition, she
desired
that the choice of methods established be adapted "to the temperament, the
inclinations, the circumstances of each person... and be according to the
capacity of each" (Libro dei Doveri, vol. III, p. 347 and 349).
In 1836 Canon Benaglio died and Teresa, supported by the obedience that
guaranteed that the Congregation was willed by God, dedicated herself
totally to
its approbation, strengthening and expansion. In this she was affronted by
many
obstacles placed in the way by civil authorities, and also by ecclesiastics
who
put her virtue to the hard test. Teresa showed herself heroic in abandonment
to
the will of God that sustained her.
After a life of intense giving, Teresa Verzeri died in Brescia on March
3,1852.
She left to the Congregation, already approved by the Church and by the
government, a vast documentation-above all in the Constitutions, the Book of
Duties and in more than 3,500 letters-from which it is possible to draw all
the
richness of her spiritual and human experience.
The precious spiritual patrimony transmitted to the Congregation finds its
center in the Heart of Jesus from whom the Daughters of the Sacred Heart
inherit
the spirit of magnanimous charity that compels one to be "all to all" in an
intimate relation with the Father and in loving solicitude for one's
neighbor.
Teresa expressed it this way: "The Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
like
those who draw their charity from the very source of love, that is, from the
Heart of Jesus Christ, must burn with the same love of the Divine Heart for
their neighbor: purest charity that has no aim save for the glory of God and
the
good of souls; universal charity that excludes no one but embraces all;
generous
charity that does not draw back from suffering, is not alarmed by
contradiction,
but rather, in suffering and opposition, grows in vigor and conquers through
patience" (Libro dei Doveri, vol. I, p. 58).
Animated by this spirit, the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus continue
the
mission of Teresa today in Italy, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, in the
Central
African Republic and in Cameroon, in India, and in Albania.
In the contemplation of the Heart of Christ they receive the mandate to go
to
every man and woman with a dedication that loves the poor with predilection,
is
open for every service, is always solicitous to promote the dignity of the
person, to be the Heart of Christ there where the need is greatest. The
relics
of Teresa Verzeri are venerated in the chapel of the Daughters of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, in Bergamo.
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Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself -Matt. 16:24
"The first step to be taken by one who wishes to follow Christ is, according
to
Our Lord's own words, that of renouncing himself-that is, his own senses,
his
own passions, his own will, his own judgment, and all the movements of
nature,
making to God a sacrifice of all these things, and of all their acts, which
are
surely sacrifices very acceptable to the Lord. And we must never grow weary
of
this; for if anyone having, so to speak, one foot already in Heaven, should
abandon this exercise, when the time should come for him to put the other
there,
he would run much risk of being lost"
-St. Vincent de Paul
The same Saint made himself such a proficient in this virtue that it might
be
called the weapon most frequently and constantly handled by him through his
whole life until his last breath; and by this he succeeded in gaining
absolute
dominion over all the movements of his inferior nature. Therefore, he kept
his
own passions so completely subject to reason, that he could scarcely be
known to
have any.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints" March - Mortification)
Bible Quote
But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them,
and
then they shall fast. (Matthew 9:15)
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A hymn-prayer to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament:
Very Bread, good Shepherd, tend us,
Jesu, of Thy love befriend us,
Thou refresh us, Thou defend us,
Thine eternal goodness send us,
In the land of life to see.
Thou Who all things canst and knowest,
Who on earth such food bestowest,
Grant us with Thy Saints, though lowest,
Where the heavenly feast Thou shewest,
Fellow-heirs and guests to be. Amen.