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One Teacher: Christ

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May 27, 2022, 2:53:05 AM5/27/22
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One Teacher: Christ

"Avoid being called "Teacher." Only one is your teacher, the
Messiah. Let him therefore speak to you interiorly, in that place
where no one can enter into your heart.
On second thought, let there not be no one in your heart--let
Christ be there. Let his unction spread in your heart, lest it be a
heart thirsting in the wilderness and having no fountains to be
quenched."
--St. Augustine--Sermon on 1 John 3, 13

Prayer: You have accompanied me on my path, O Truth, teaching me what
to avoid and what to desire.
--St. Augustine--Confessions 10, 40

<<>><<>><<>>
May 27th - Blessed Mary Bartholomeo Bagnesi, Mystic

Born in Florence, Italy, 1511-1514; died 1577; beatified in 1804 by Pius VII.
Marietta Bagnesi's type of sanctity is not pleasing to today's
psychiatrists, and, indeed, it is somewhat of a puzzle. The fact that
she was so disgusted with the very thought of marriage that she became
ill and was bedridden the rest of her life seems more than a little
strange to us. One has to remember that God calls his children to
heaven by very diverse paths.

Marietta was a beautiful and appealing child, with big eyes and a
constant smile. Because she was tiny, she was always called Marietta,
rather than Mary. Her mother neglected her when she was a baby,
leaving her to the casual care of others, and the little girl was
often hungry and cold. She never protested, but was always gay and
charming, and she was the special darling of her sister, who was a
Dominican nun.

The sisters made quite a pet of the little girl, and she ran through
the cloisters unhampered, singing for the sisters from the throne of
the community-room table. What brought about her utter disgust with
marriage is hard to tell. When her father proposed that she marry an
eligible young man, she reacted with horror. She had been managing the
household since the death of her mother, and her father felt that
having a home of her own would be the best thing in the world for her.
When he suggested this, Marietta fell into a faint, and she remained
in that condition for days. When she recovered, she could not stand
up, and had to be put to bed.

At this point a strange interlude began, which can only be explained
by the fact that God does not operate in the same fashion we do.
Marietta's father was fond of quack doctors, and quacks of the 16th
century were really fantastic. Without protest the girl endured all
the weird and frightful treatments they devised, suffering more from
the treatments than she ever had from the malady. Today her ailment
would probably be diagnosed as some type of spastic nerve malady.
Packing her in mud and winding her in swaddling bands until she,
according to her own account, "felt like a squashed raisin" could not
have helped anything but the quack doctor's purse. The ailments
continued unabated for 34 years.

Marietta had hoped to be a nun; four of her sisters were already in
the convent. Because such a life was, of course, impossible for an
invalid, her father attempted to better her spirits by having her
accepted into the Third Order. A priest came from Santa Maria Novella
and received her into the order in 1544, but he excused her from the
obligation of saying the Office because of the desperate nature of her
illness. When he came the following year, she made her profession. For
a little while after her profession, Marietta was able to get out of
bed and could even walk a little. She could see and enjoy the beauties
of the city. Then she fell ill again and went back to bed; this time
she had asthma, pleurisy, and a kidney ailment.

The doctors continued their experimentation through all the years of
her life. A mystic, who sometimes conversed with the angels, saints,
and devils, Marietta was suspected by the neighbors of being in league
with the devil. Her protests that "she had seen him all right but he
wasn't a friend of hers," fell on deaf ears; they obtained permission
to have her exorcised. Her confessor left her; he was afraid of
becoming involved. Another priest who came to her, mostly out of
curiosity, stayed on as her confessor and directed her strange and
troubled path for 22 years.

Marietta's little room became a sort of oratory, and troubled people
came there to find peace. She had an unusually soothing effect on
animals; several pet cats made her the object of their affection. One
of them used to sleep on the foot of her bed, and if she became sick
during the night would go out to find someone to care for her. Once,
when the cat felt that Marietta was being neglected, it went out and
fetched her a large cheese. The cats, according to the legend, did not
even glance at the songbirds that she had in a cage beside the bed.

Marietta's spiritual life is hard to chronicle against such an odd
background. In her last years, she was in almost constant ecstasy. The
chaplain said Mass in her room, and she went to confession daily. She
never discussed the sorrowful mysteries, because she could not do so
without crying, but she often talked with great animation and a
shining face, about the glorious mysteries. Once she was raised out of
her bed in ecstasy. She shared her visions with another mystic, the
Carmelite, Mary Magdalen de Pazzi. Because of her devotion to Saint
Bartholomew, she added his name to her own, and usually used it
instead of her family name (Benedictines, Dorcy).


Saint Quote:
In the way of virtue, there is no standing still; anyone who does not
daily advance, loses ground. To remain at a standstill is impossible;
he that gains not, loses; he that ascends not, descends. If one does
not ascend the ladder, one must descend; if one does not conquer, one
will be conquered.
--St. Bonaventure

Bible Quote:
Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding; so
that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him. (St.
Luke 12:36)

Saint Quote:
Though you have recourse to many saints as your intercessors, go
especially to Saint Joseph for he has great power.
--St. Terese of Avila


<><><><>
From The Glories Of Mary, by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori:

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, I am not worthy to be thy
servant. But moved by thy marvelous compassion and my own desire to
serve thee, here and now, in the presence of my guardian angel and the
whole court of Heaven, I choose thee as my Lady, Advocate, and Mother.
I firmly purpose to love and serve thee always, and to do all I can to
inspire others to love and serve thee.

O Mother of God and my own most compassionate Mother, I beseech thee,
by the Blood which thy Son shed for me, to receive me into the number
of thy servants as thy child and servant forever. Assist me in all my
thoughts, words, and actions in every moment of my life, so that every
step I take, every breath I draw, may be directed to the greater glory
of my God.

Through your powerful intercession, may I never again offend my
beloved Jesus. Help me to love and glorify Him in this life. Help me
to love thee also, dear and beloved Mother, and to go on loving thee
forever in the happiness of Heaven.

My Mother Mary, I commend my soul to thee now, and especially at the
moment of death.

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