--2 Pet 3:14 --

 --2 Pet 3:14 --

 Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that
you may be found before him unspotted and blameless in peace.  [2Pe
3:14]  DRB
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
    Looking at the state of apostasy that we are living today, where
our faith is put in fire everyday.  It seems, we are living this
parable. Only those who are firm in their faith can remain standing
and seek more for God.
    It's kind of impossible for those who do not know the Lord, to
pass this fire.  Those who oppose Christianity sound as if they are
right.  Only those who had been touched by The Lord know with
conviction that they are not.

<<>><<>><<>>
March 15th - Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
Also known as Apostle of Vienna, Johannes Hofbauer, John Dvor=C3=A1k, Kleme=
ns Maria

(1751-1820)

St. Clement Mary was a native of Moravia, Czechoslovakia. In fact, he
was in blood a Moravian Slav, but his father, a butcher named Dvorak,
for practical reasons had changed his surname to its German
equivalent. Dvorak and Hofbauer both mean =E2=80=9Cfarmer.=E2=80=9D The 9th=
 of 12
children, our saint was baptized John, but later changed his forename
to Clement Mary.

From early childhood, Clement longed to be a priest. However, because
his family could not afford to send him to the seminary, he was
apprenticed at 15 to a baker. Engaged eventually as a baker by the
abbot of the Norbertine monastery at Bruck, he was permitted to attend
classes in the monastery=E2=80=99s Latin school.

When the abbot died, young Clement decided to become a hermit. But
when the officious Austrian Emperor Joseph II later forbade the hermit
life, Clement returned to his bakery trade, now in Vienna. From Vienna
he and a like-minded friend, Pater Kunzmann, made two pilgrimages to
Rome. With permission of the local bishop, they settled in the diocese
of Tivoli as hermits. Before long, however, Clement concluded that his
calling was rather to be a missionary.

One rainy day after he had returned to Vienna, he offered to fetch a
carriage for two ladies who had been at Mass with him in St. Stephen=E2=80=
=99s
Cathedral. It was a lucky courtesy. The two women were well-to-do, and
when they learned of his dream to go to the seminary, they offered to
supply him and his friend, Thaddaeus Huebl, with all needed funds.

The two young men went to Rome, joined the Redemptorists, completed
their studies, and were ordained in 1785. St. Alphonsus, founder of
the Redemptorists, was happy at the thought that his order would now
be represented north of the Alps. On returning to Austria, Father
Hofbauer quickly welcomed into the Redemptorists, as a lay brother,
his old friend Kunzmann: the first vocation to the order in German
territory.

Father Clement and his companions were now sent to Warsaw. From 1789
to 1808, they brought about a great revival in Warsaw and Poland by
their constant parish missions. They were responsible for the
conversion there of many Protestants and a number of Jews. St. Clement
opened an orphanage and begged the funds to support it. (Once when he
entered a tavern and asked a card-player for a donation, the man spat
in his face. Clement calmly replied, =E2=80=9CThat was a gift to me
personally; now please let me have something for my poor children.=E2=80=9D=
)
He also founded a school for boys, and a number of religious
confraternities. Out of Warsaw he sent missionaries to establish their
congregation in Courland, Germany, and Switzerland.

Unfortunately, Napoleon decreed the suppression of religious orders.
St. Clement was jailed on two occasions. Exiled, he decided to return
to Vienna. There, despite continuing political obstacles, he carried
on effectively his preaching, his educational work, and his charities.
He won a large following. Through his contacts with political figures,
he was able to prevent the international Congress of Vienna from
setting up a national German Catholic church independent of the popes.

All Vienna crowded the streets to witness Hofbauer=E2=80=99s funeral in 182=
0.
He was canonized in 1909. After St. Clement=E2=80=99s death, the Redemptori=
sts
spread into many lands. The German Redemptorists arrived in America in
1832. Four years later, their pioneer missionary, Father Joseph Prost,
established St. Joseph=E2=80=99s parish in Rochester. The Rochester
Redemptorists not only staffed the first German-language parish in
Rochester and promoted the establishment of several daughter parishes,
but also took care of Germans in other parts of western New York.
Their contribution to the religious and cultural life of these
uprooted immigrants is beyond all praise. Saint Clement Maria would
have been proud of the work of his missionaries in western New York.
=E2=80=93Father Robert


Saint Quote:
"O My Redeemer, will that terrible moment ever come when but few
Christians shall be left who are inspired by the spirit of faith, that
moment when Your indignation shall be provoked and Your protection
shall be taken from us? Have our vices and our evil lives irrevocably
moved Your justice to take vengeance, perhaps this very day, upon Your
children?
--Saint Clement-Maria Hofbauer

Bible Quote:
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing
near, he said to his mother: =E2=80=9CWoman, behold, your son!=E2=80=9D The=
n he said
to the disciple: =E2=80=9CBehold, your mother!=E2=80=9D And from that hour =
the
disciple took her into his home  (John 19:26-27).


<><><><>
Angels by your side

May you walk the path before you
With angels by your side,
And may the peace and love of God
Within your heart abide.
--Clay Harrison