Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Servant of God
Mother Maria Scholastica Rivata
First Superior General of Sister Disciples
From A Year With Blessed James Alberione,
Compiled by J. Maurus
Sr. Scholastica was born at Guarene, Italy, on 12 July, 1897.
The time she spent in the bosom of her home, at work, and in parish activities was a good training and preparation for realizing her aspiration to consecrate herself totally to God.
Her encounter with Fr. James Alberione, who had already founded the Society of St. Paul and the Daughters of St. Paul, was of decisive imortance for her vocation and mission.
Fr. James Alberione founded the new religious Congregation of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master for this purpose: "Wholly belonging to Jesus the Divine Master and dedicated to the eucharistic adoration and to the priestly and liturgical apostolate, the Congregation may become a source of grace for the other Institutes of the Pauline Family dedicated more particularly to apostolic life."
"When negative thoughts assail me, I make an act of thanksgiving to Jesus for all that he has disposed so that everything may be for my greater good, and I offer to him everything as expiation for my sins, especially for my great pride.
"I am unable to sustain a long struggle, and when I become conscious that my good thoughts are not sufficient to overcome the negative ones, I go to our Lady who is of great comfort to me, and she fills me with great peace. She greatly encourages and strengthens me so much that I feel to be the happiest person in the world" (Sr. Scholastica).
The canonical process of her canonization began on 13 March, 1993, at Alba, in Italy.
From Saint and Thought For Every Day,
by Blessed James Alberione
To Live in Christ
Day by day, participation in the life of God and Jesus Chirst becomes always more full: God lives in us, and we live in him. He really lives in us in the unity of His nature and the Trinity of Persons. And this God is eminently active in us, pruducing a supernatural organism which perfects our natural organism. He makes us live a life not equal to His, but like it, a godly life. He works in our whole being, in all our faculties. With a divine impulse, He makes us His cooperators, so that our days will be filled with merits. We live in Him, and He lives in us. Christ Jesus lives in us not only as God but also as God-Man. He is the head of the Mystical Body; we are the members and receive activity and life from Him.
What Strikes Me Most Today
What strikes me most today is Mother Rivata. Hearing her story and looking at the picture of her above in her youth, I have no doubt she would have lived an incredible life of devotion to Christ no matter the circumstances of her life. But I can't help wonder how meeting Blessed James Alberione might have changed the course of her life. She is yet another person from Blessed Alberione's life whose cause for canonization is well underway!
Servant of God Mother Maria Scholastica Rivata, Pray for us!
What strikes you most today?
Click on "COMMENTS" below to share your thoughts.
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2 comments:

  1. Rae StaboszMarch 2, 2009 at 6:09 AM

    Two things struck me today:

    "When negative thoughts assail me, I make an act of thanksgiving to Jesus for all that he has disposed so that everything may be for my greater good, and I offer to him everything as expiation for my sins, especially for my great pride." - Sr. Scholastica

    "Day by day, participation in the life of God and Jesus Chirst becomes always more full: God lives in us, and we live in him. He really lives in us in the unity of His nature and the Trinity of Persons. And this God is eminently active in us, pruducing a supernatural organism which perfects our natural organism." - Fr. Alberione

    I am so glad that I read this blog before I started my day. I had been running away from prayer & was almost caught by the lure of the computer, to do nothing but surf, play and waste time. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." -- but it needs to be done in moderation. And it shouldn't attract us away from morning prayer.

    So I am off to consciously participate in that aspect of the life of the Blessed Trinity which Christ has graciously offered to me in my own daily life.

    Servant of God Maria Scholastic, pray for us!
    Blessed Alberione, pray for us!
    St. Paul, pray for us!
    My guardian angel, keep me safe today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. mary montgomery aka greatgranmaryMarch 3, 2009 at 3:19 PM

    This blog site is so beautiful! Mothe S is one of my favorite Paulines. She gives me such great hope to carry on in my own life. I do not recognize your name. We are Perpetually Professed living in USA. Thank you for this site and it's beautiful material.

    ReplyDelete

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Why?

Why a blog? Why St. Paul? Why do I think I have any business doing this?
We are all on a spiritual journey. We all want that journey to lead us to heaven, to eternity with God. For this journey, we need one another.
The journey so far has led me to read and learn about so many forms of authentic Catholic spirituality - Ignatian, Benedictine, Carmelite, Dominican, Franciscan, etc. My biggest problem was that I came to love each one tremendously. I began reading more and more, spending more and more time at the Daughters of St. Paul bookstore on Watson Road here in St. Louis. Who would have thought my greatest conversion story would take place in a bookstore? Mine was not quite as sudden or dramatic as St. Paul on the road to Damascus, but getting to know the Daughters of St. Paul affected me no less significantly.
The sisters are Eucharistic by nature. The first time I entered the chapel in their bookstore, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and one of the sisters was on her knees, gazing at Christ, with an indescribably beautiful smile on her face. I had a glimpse of heaven. I knelt at one of the other kneelers and noticed on the wall behind the monstrance the words: "Fear not, I am with you. From here I want to enlighten. Atone for sin." I had that brief moment of absolute certainty that I was on the right path.
Over the last several years I have worked my way through as many books, CD's, DVD's and conversations with the Daughters of St. Paul that time has allowed. Time is at such a premium for all of us. Years ago we were told that with advances in technology we would have much more free time on our hands. We all know this has not been the case. Our lives are busier and more hectic than ever. Even if we are unable to find time to read good books, see enlightening movies or attend lectures and discussions, maybe we could all spend a little time on the internet supporting one another on our faith journeys. Many of you know more about many aspects of Catholic spirituality than I do.
Pope John Paul the Great called us all to a New Evangelization, to share the Gospel with the world. I am hoping we can all be St. Paul in this blog space by sharing Christ with one another and with others. St. Paul travelled to many foreign and often hostile regions to evangelize the world; we are fortunate to be able to use the internet to reach even farther and more quickly.
The idea of using today's means of social communication to spread the Gospel was given to Blessed James Alberione on the night between the centuries (December 31, 1900 - January 1, 1901). He was a 16 year-old seminary student adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament when a special light came to him from the Host. Following this, Blessed James Alberione became the founder of the Society of St. Paul priests, the Daughters of St. Paul, the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Sisters of the Queen of Apostles, and numerous institutes that are also part of the Pauline family.
So what is Pauline spirituality? In my experience, Pauline spirituality encompasses all the teachings of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and love of all the other spiritualities and Saints of the Church. It is the members of the Pauline family who are the happiest people I know! It is loving God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with all our hearts and souls, through the intercession of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and St. Paul.
So why St. Paul? I can relate to St. Paul. We first meet him in the New Testament as a sinner. He has a thorn in his side that God decides is best not to take away. I sometimes wish I knew what that thorn was, but it's probably better I don't know. I like to pretend it is one of my many weaknesses or faults. If St. Paul could go from persecuting Christ and His Church to becoming the person responsible for spreading the Gospel and establishing the Church in foreign lands, the least I can do is start a blog. I have been especially inspired by my two favorite bloggers, Sr. Margaret Charles Kerry, fsp, and a Pauline Cooperator named Rae Stabosz. I believe Sr. Margaret and Rae are doing just what St. Paul and Blessed James Alberione would be doing with the internet.
In future blogs (which will be shorter than this first post!), I would like to share writings of St. Paul, Blessed James Alberione, and many others. I look forward to others sharing writings from other Catholic spiritualities and writers. An especially Pauline way of sharing is to point out to one another what aspects particularly speak to each of us.
Another Pauline trait is to pray for one another. My prayer is that we support one another on our path to holiness. Our goal is to glorify God in all that we do - so let's do it!