Following the rule of her twin brother, St Benedict, she founded the Order of Benedictine nuns. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1480)
St Scholastica
These famous twins were born more than 1500 years ago at Norcia [Central Italy], that most ancient city, rich in history and art, cradle of the Benedictine Order which made mankind the magnificent gift of ‘those two great personalities’.
I look with sincere admiration on all monasteries of Benedictine nuns -- it is with lively satisfaction that I apply to them the image so dear to St Benedict, who considered them ‘schools of service to God’.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p86
On humility, its nature and necessity
Humility is the root of all virtues, as pride is the root of all sins. St Bernard defines it as -- ‘An acquired virtue or habit, by means of which man despises himself and desires to be despised by others.’
A stable disposition of mind and heart, it makes man see in himself only sin and the inclination to sin. He despises himself and esteems God alone, the source of all good. So that God alone may be praised and glorified, he desires and is content to be forgotten.
Let us examine our thoughts, words and actions: If we care less what God thinks of us than what men do, and are more anxious to please men than God. If we sometimes speak ill of ourselves and complain if others speak ill of us, reprove, humble or injure us.
However good and praiseworthy our actions may seem before men, if we have sought our own glory in all these, before God, we are devoid of humility.
Like faith, it is impossible to please God without humility; because we worship ourselves. There is no grace because God ‘gives grace to the humble’. Without grace we cannot merit. Without either virtue or merit we cannot enter heaven. Therefore, no salvation, no humility.
Our Lord expressly said, “Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:14). Prompted by the dispute among his Apostles as to who should be the greatest, he thereupon especially referred to the ‘humility’ and ‘simplicity’ of children.
Thus, there can be no progress in perfection without humility. We are useless, or almost useless, to others. And yet we must labor for their salvation. How can God bless our labor in which we seek our own glory?
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp372-4
The Pope Speaks to the Sick
God allows suffering to exist in the world, but he does not enjoy it. Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ ‘loved the sick’; he devoted a great part of his earthly ministry to healing the sick and comforting the afflicted.
Our God is a God of compassion and consolation. And he expects us to take the ordinary means to prevent, relieve and remove suffering and sickness. But despite preventive health-care programs, suffering and sickness still exist. A Christian sees ‘meaning in suffering’.
He bears such suffering with patience, love of God and generosity. He offers it all to God, through Christ, especially during the Sacrifice of the Mass. When a sick person receives Holy Communion he is united with Christ the Victim.
When suffering is associated with Christ’s Passion and redemptive death, then it acquires a great value for the individual, for the Church and for society. This is the meaning of those wonderful words of St Paul on which we must meditate repeatedly.
‘Now I find my joy in the suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church.’
I also know personally what it means to be sick and to stay in the hospital for a long time and how it is possible to comfort and support others who share the same lot of confinement and suffering; and how necessary it is to pray for the sick and to show them one’s loving concern.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp87-8
The sick: God’s favoured children
Jesus revealed himself to the disciples sent to him by John the Baptist by drawing their attention to what they had seen and heard: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear; the dead are raised, the poor have the Good News preached to them” (cf Mt 11:5).
Our Lord wants his disciples to imitate him by showing effective compassion towards the sick; and suffer pain. “The Church encompasses with her love all those afflicted by human misery, and recognizes in those who are poor and who suffer, the image of her poor and suffering founder. She does all in her power to relieve their need and in their persons she strives to serve Christ.” (cf Second Vatican Council, “Lumen Gentium”, 8)
“He who loves his neighbor must do as much good for his body as for his soul. This does not consist only in calling the doctor, but also in caring for his neighbor’s welfare: his food, drink, clothing, lodging, and protecting his body from anything that might be harmful to him ... They are merciful who put consideration and humanity into providing what is necessary for resisting any type of evil and alleviating pain.” (St Augustine, “On the customs of the Catholic Church”, 1,28,56)
We turn to Our Lady, she “who standing valiantly beside the Cross of her Son on Calvary (cf Jn 19:25), shared in his passion, and always knows how to win over new souls so that they unite their own suffering to Christ’s sacrifice in an ‘offertory’ which, transcending time and space, encompasses the whole of mankind and saves it.” (John Paul II, “Homily”, 11 November 1980)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:199-200, 205
Recovery
“Our Lady. Who could be a better Teacher of the love of God than this Queen, this Lady, this Mother, who has the closest bond with the Trinity: Daughter of God the Father, Mother of God the Son, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit? And at the same time she is our Mother!
“Go and pray personally for her intercession.”
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 555
• Our Lady of the Dove, near Bologna, in Italy, built, it is said, in a place which a dove designated, by flying round and round, for two days, about certain masons who were at work, and to whom it seemed to mark out a certain site. — Triple Couronne, n. 107. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Dove, Bologna, Italy. (www.divine will.org/feastofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Dove (near Bologna, Italy). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Dove. Bologna, Italy; Malaga, Spain (“Virgen de la Paloma”). Mexican retablo painting, “Nuestra Señora de Paloma”. Statue in St. Stephen's Church, Florida. "La Verbena De La Paloma" (The Festival of Our Lady of the Dove), zarzuela (Spanish operatta) by Tomas Breton. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
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