The peace of the soul

The peace of the soul

The peace of the soul, next to the grace of God, is the greatest of
blessings, and we should spare no pains to maintain it within us. But
we can neither obtain nor preserve this peace of the soul but by
resisting our passions and irregular desires; for the more we endeavor
to satisfy them, the more restless do they make us; the more we fight
against them, the less trouble do they give us; the more we resist
them, the more do they leave us in peace.

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5 April =E2=80=93 St Vincent Ferrer O.P.

(1350-1419)
called the =E2=80=9CAngel of the Apocalypse/The Last Judgement=E2=80=9D and=
 the
=E2=80=9CMouthpiece of God.=E2=80=9D-
Dominican Priest, Missionary, Master of Sacred Theology, Philosopher,
Teacher, Preacher, Logician, Apostle of Charity
=E2=80=93 born on 23 January 1350 in Valencia (part of modern Spain) and di=
ed
on 5 April 1419 at Vannes, Brittany, France of natural causes. His
remains are interred in the cathedral of Vannes. Patronages =E2=80=93
Archdiocese of Valencia, Builders, Prisoners, Construction workers,
Plumbers, Fishermen, Spanish orphanages, Calamonaci, Italy,
Casteltermini, Agrigento, Italy, Leganes, Philippines,
Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, diocese of.
Attributes=E2=80=93 Dominican habit, Tongue of flame, Pulpit, Trumpet, Wing=
s, Bible.

St Vincent was born in Valencia, Spain. However, even in utero he was
performing miracles. His mother visited a blind woman she often
helped. The lady placed her head on the mother=E2=80=99s womb to hear the
baby=E2=80=99s heartbeat and was instantly healed of her blindness. The ent=
ire
city was quite animated at his birth and their town square argument
over his name had to be settled by the local bishop who recommended he
share the name of the city=E2=80=99s patron saint (St Vincent of Zaragosa, =
a
third century martyr, died 304). Before St Vincent was three months
old, Valencia was struck by a terrible famine. The infant spoke in a
perfectly intelligible manner to his mother, informing her that all
the townspeople needed to carry a venerated statue in procession about
the city to end the famine. No sooner had the procession begun than
rain began to fall and the famine was broken.

From his tenderest years, it was clear that God was calling St Vincent
to serve Him at His Altar. The boy was gifted with great intelligence
and even more profound piety. When Vincent joined the Dominicans, he
zealously practiced penance, study and prayer. He was a teacher of
philosophy and a naturally gifted preacher called the =E2=80=9CMouthpiece o=
f
God.=E2=80=9D His saintly life was what made his preaching so effective.
Vincent=E2=80=99s subjects were judgement, heaven, hell and the need for
repentance. Soon he was teaching and preaching all over Spain.

But at this time, three men claimed to be pope in the 1300s and 1400s.
Kings, princes, priests and laypeople fought one another to support
the different claimants for the Chair of Peter. This chaos led to the
Western Schism and then God raised up Vincent Ferrer.

Even the holiest people can be misled. Pope Urban VI was the real pope
and lived in Rome but Vincent and many others thought that Clement VII
and his successor Benedict XIII, who lived in Avignon, France, were
the true popes. Vincent convinced kings, princes, clergy and almost
all of Spain to give loyalty to them. After Clement VII died, Vincent
tried to get both Benedict and the pope in Rome to abdicate so that a
new election could be held.  Vincent returned to Benedict in Avignon
and asked him to resign. Benedict refused.

Vincent came to see the error in Benedict=E2=80=99s claim to the papacy.
Discouraged and ill, Vincent begged Christ to show him the truth. In a
vision, he saw Jesus with Saint Dominic and Saint Francis, commanding
him to =E2=80=9Cgo through the world preaching Christ.=E2=80=9D For the nex=
t twenty
years he travelled to England, Scotland, Ireland, Aragon, Castile,
France, Switzerland and Italy, preaching the Gospel and converting
many. Many biographers believe that he could speak only Valencian but
was endowed with the gift of tongues. St Vincent also had great
success in preaching to the Moors and Jews. Countless converts came
into the Church and on one single day he converted more than five
thousand Jews. His spiritual success was even more fruitful among
Catholics. Hatreds, envies, wars and other divisions were all brought
to an abrupt end under his guidance. Once he raised a woman from the
dead so that she could testify to all present that he was indeed the
Angel of the Apocalypse (cf. Apco 14:6), sent by God to call a world
seeped in sin to repentance.  He preached to St Colette of Corbie and
to her nuns and it was she who told him that he would die in France.
Too ill to return home to Spain, he did, indeed, die in Brittany in
1419, at the age of sixty-nine. Breton fishermen still invoke his aid
in storms. Vincent spread the Good News throughout Europe. He fasted,
preached, worked miracles and drew many people to become faithful
Christians.

One day while Benedict was presiding over an enormous assembly,
Vincent, though close to death, mounted the pulpit and denounced him
as the false pope. He encouraged everyone to be faithful to the one,
true Catholic Church in Rome. Benedict fled, knowing his supporters
had deserted him.  The Great Western Schism was finally ended in 1417
when all the world universally acknowledged Martin V as rightful pope.
St Vincent was canonised by Pope Calixtus III on 3 June 1455.

https://anastpaul.com/2018/04/05/


=E2=80=9CWhatever you do,
think NOT of yourself
but OF God.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9COnce humility is acquired,
charity will come to life
like a burning flame devouring
the corruption of vice
and filling the heart so full,
that there is no place for vanity.=E2=80=9D=E2=80=A6

=E2=80=9CA vain question deserves nothing
but silence.
So learn to be silent for a time;
you will edify your brethren
and silence will teach you,
to speak when the hour is come.=E2=80=9D
--St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)

Bible Quote:
Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are
true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever
lovely, whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, if any praise
of discipline: think on these things.  (Philippians 4:6-8) DRB


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And what kind of affronts did not the Redeemer suffer in His Passion?
He saw Himself affronted by His own disciples. One of them betrays Him
and sells Him for thirty pieces. Another denies Him many times,
protesting publicly that he knows Him not; and thus attesting that he
was ashamed to have known Him in the past. The other disciples, when
they see Him taken and bound, all fly and abandon Him: Then his
disciples leaving him, all fled away. (Mark xiv. 50).

O my Jesus, thus abandoned, who will ever undertake Thy defence, if,
when Thou art first taken, those most dear to Thee depart from and
forsake Thee? But, my God, to think that this dishonour did not end
with Thy Passion! How many souls, after having offered themselves to
follow Thee, and after having been favoured by Thee with many graces
and special signs of love, being then driven by some passion of vile
interest, or human respect, or sordid pleasure, have ungratefully
forsaken Thee! Which of these ungrateful ones is found to turn and
lament, saying, Ah, my dear Jesus, pardon me; for I will not leave
Thee again. I will rather lose my life a thousand times than lose Thy
grace, O my God, my Love, my All.

--From The Passion And Death Of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori=
: