On Obedience and Discipline: (II)

On Obedience and Discipline:  (II)

Everyone gladly does whatever he most likes, and likes best those who
think as he does; but if God is to dwell among us we must sometimes
yield our own opinion for the sake of peace. Who is so wise that he
knows all things? So do not place too much reliance on the rightness
of your own view but be ready to consider the views of others. If your
opinion is sound, and you forego it for the love of God and follow
that of another, you will win great merit. I have often heard that is
safer to accept advice than to give it. It may even come about that
each of two opinions is good; but to refuse to come to an agreement
with others when reason or occasion demand it is a sign of pride and
obstinacy.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 9

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May 5th - St. Jutta, Widow
d. 1260

AMONGST the numerous women who were inspired by the example of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary, one of the most remarkable was St. Jutta, or
Judith, patroness of Prussia.

Like her great exemplar she was a native of Thuringia, having been
born at Sangerhausen, to the south-west of Eisleben. Married at the
age of fifteen to a man of noble rank, she proved an admirable wife,
besides being a great benefactress to the poor.

Once, in a vision, our Lord had said to her, “Follow me”; and she
strove not only to obey Him herself, but to lead her household to do
the same. In the early days of her married life, her husband had
remonstrated with her for the simplicity of her dress, but she
gradually won him over to her own point of view. He was actually on a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land when he died--to the great grief of his
widow, who was left to bring up her children alone.

As they grew up, one after another entered religious orders, and Jutta
was left free to follow the call which she had long cherished in her
heart. She gave everything she possessed to the poor, and then, clad
in a miserable dress, she begged bread for herself and the poor from
those who had been her dependents. Though some scoffed, others treated
her with reverence, knowing what she had given up, and she resolved to
go forth among strangers in order that she might be despised by all.
As she wandered on, walking barefoot in summer and winter, she
relieved on the road many tramps by dressing their wounds and feeding
them with food supplied to her in charity. At last she made her way
into Prussia, the land of the Teutonic Knights, whose grand-master,
Hanno of Sangerhausen, was a relation of her own. There she settled as
a solitary in a ruinous building on the shore of a sheet of water
called the Bielcza, half a mile or so from Kulmsee.

St. Jutta received wonderful graces, for besides being favoured with
many visions and revelations, she was given an infused understanding
of the Holy Scriptures. She once said that three things could bring
one very near to God--painful illness, exile from home in a remote
corner of a foreign land, and poverty voluntarily assumed for God’s
sake. The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages who passed her
dwelling declared that they had often seen her raised from the ground,
as if upheld by angels. On Sundays she attended the church at Kulmsee,
and she had as her directors at first a Franciscan, John Lobedau, and
afterwards a Dominican, Henry Heidenreich. For four years she remained
in her solitude, praying fervently for the conversion of the heathen
and the perseverance of the newly baptized. Then she was seized by a
fever which proved fatal. Many miracles were recorded as having taken
place at her grave, and she has been associated in the veneration of
the Prussian Catholics with Bl. John Lobedau and with another female
recluse, Bl. Dorothy of Marienwerder.

The very full account of this recluse printed in the Acta Sanctorum is
a translation of a Polish life by Father Szembek. This claims to have
been based upon a mass of materials collected for the process of
canonization, but the originals unfortunately could not be traced by
the Bollandists at the date at which they wrote. See also the
Mittheilungen des Vereins f. Gesch., etc., v. Sangerhausen, vol. i
(1881), pp. 82 seq.; P. Funk, in Festschrift für W. Goetz (1927), pp.
81-44; and a sketch by H. Westpfahl, Jutta von Sangerhausen (1938).


Saint Quote:
Our Savior says, if you have not received the graces that you desire,
do not complain to me, but blame yourself, because you have neglected
to seek them from me.
-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

Bible Quote:
Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have
afflicted them, and taken away their labours. [2] These seeing it,
shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the
suddenness of their unexpected salvation. [3] Saying within
themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are
they, whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of
reproach. [4] We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end
without honour. [5] Behold how they are numbered among the children of
God, and their lot is among the saints.
[Wisdom 5:1-5] DRV


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Hymn:
Aeterna Christi munera

The eternal gifts of Christ the King,
The Apostles' glory, let us sing;
And all with hearts of gladness raise
Due hymns of thankful love and praise.

For they the Church's princes are,
Triumphant leaders in the war,
The heavenly King's own warrior band,
True lights to lighten every land.

Theirs was the steadfast faith of Saints,
The hope that never yields nor faints,
The love of Christ in perfect flow,
That lay the prince of this world low.

In them the Father's glory shone,
In them the Spirit's will was done,
The Son Himself exults in them;
Joy fills the new Jerusalem.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past,
And so shall be while ages last.