Staying in control
Compared to most endeavors, controlling yourself is relatively simple and
easy. And when you're able to control your own thoughts, words and
actions,
there is no limit to what you can accomplish.
To control yourself requires no other person's permission, cooperation or
assistance. To control yourself requires no special knowledge, skill or
equipment.
What it does require is a compelling reason. When the reason why is
meaningful enough, you will have no trouble finding the will and the means
to control your own life.
That's why it is so im****tant to have a clear sense of where you intend to
go and why. Connecting with your purpose will keep you in control, and
staying in control will carry you to achievement.
There is a purpose within you that is stronger than the temptations and
distractions. There is a solid, meaningful reason that will compel you to
carefully and effectively control all that you do.
The more fully you know and express that purpose, the more surely and
reliably you'll be in control. And the more completely you exercise
control
over yourself, the higher your life will rise.
-- Ralph Marston
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November 13th - Saint Didacus, Franciscan Confessor
(Also known as Diego)
(d. 1463)
Saint Didacus was born in Andalusia in Spain, towards the beginning of the
fifteenth century. He was remarkable from childhood for his love of
solitude, and for conversations concerning holy things. When still young
he
retired to live with a hermit not far from his village, where he spent
several years in vigils, fasting, and manual work. Like the Fathers of the
desert, he made baskets and other objects with willow branches and gave
them
to those who brought alms to the two hermits.
God inspired him to enter into the Order of the seraphic Saint Francis; he
did so at the convent of Arrizafa, not far from Cordova. He did not aspire
to ecclesiastical honors, but to the perfection and inviolable observance
of
his Rule - an admirable ideal, the practice of which, according to Saint
Thomas Aquinas, is equivalent to martyrdom in merit. He made himself the
servant of all his brethren. Any occupation was his choice. All his
possessions were a tunic, a crucifix, a rosary, a prayer book and a book
of
meditations; and these he did not consider as his own and wanted them to
be
the most worn of all that were in the house. He found ways to nourish the
poor who came to the convent, depriving himself of bread and other food
given him, and if unable to do so consoled them with such gentle words
that
they left with profit nonetheless.
At one time he was sent by his superiors to the Canary Islands, and went
there joyfully, hoping to win the crown of martyrdom. Such, however, was
not
God's Will. After making many conversions by his example and holy words,
he
was recalled to Spain. He was assigned to the care of the sick and when he
went to Rome for the Jubilee year of 1450, with 3,800 other religious of
his
Order, most of whom fell ill there, he undertook to care for them,
succeeding in procuring for them all they needed even in that time of
scarcity.
Saint Didacus one day heard a poor woman lamenting, and learned that she
had
not known that her seven-year-old son had gone to sleep in her large oven;
she had lighted a fire, and lost her senses when she heard his cries. He
sent her to the altar of the Blessed Virgin to pray and went with a large
group of persons to the oven; although all the wood was burnt, the child
was
taken from it without so much as a trace of burns. The miracle was so
evident that the neighbors took the child in triumph to the church where
his
mother was praying, and the Canons of the Church dressed him in white in
honor of the Blessed Virgin. Since then, many afflicted persons have
invoked
the Mother of Heaven there.
After a long and painful illness, Saint Didacus ended his days in 1463,
embracing the cross which he had so dearly loved during his entire life.
He
died having on his lips the words of the hymn, Dulce lignum [Sweet wood -
a
chant of Good Friday]. His body remained incorrupt for several months,
exposed to the devotion of the faithful, ever exhaling a marvelous
fragrance. He was canonized in 1588; Philip II, king of Spain, had labored
to obtain that grace after his own son was miraculously cured in 1562 by
the
relics of the Saint, when he had fallen from a ladder and incurred a
mortal
wound on his head.
Reflection: If God be in your heart, He will be also on your lips; for
Christ has said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin
(Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13; Little Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other
sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
Saint Quote:
Dear brothers and sisters, I pray God may open your eyes and let you see
what hidden treasures he bestows on us in the trials from which the world
thinks only to flee. Shame turns into honor when we seek God's glory.
Present affliction become the source of heavenly glory. To those who
suffer
wounds in fighting his battles God opens his arms in loving, tender
friend****p. That is why he (Christ) tells us that if we want to join him,
we
shall travel the way he took. It is surely not right that the Son of God
should go his way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way
of
worldly honor: "The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant
greater than his master."
--from a letter by Saint John of Avila
Bible Quote:
In all things give thanks; for this is the Will of God. I Thess. 5:18
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Canticle Ephesians 1
God the Saviour
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us, in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in heaven.
In love, he chose us before the creation of the world,
to be holy and spotless in his sight.
He predestined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ,
simply because it pleased him to do so.
This he did for the praise of the glory of his grace,
of his free gift of us in his Beloved,
in whose blood we have gained redemption,
and the forgiveness of our sins.
This he did according to the riches of his grace,
which he gave us in abundance,
with all wisdom and discernment,
revealing to us the mysteries of his will,
because it pleased him to do so.
In this action he has planned, in the fulfilment of time,
to bring all things together in Christ,
from the heavens and from the earth.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
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