Saint Zdislava of Lemberk - 4th January --- Via Sacra - Basilika des Hl. Laurentius und der Hl. Zdislava in Deutsch-...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1vMOebojr4

St Zdislava of Lemberk (Dominican tertiary) reminds us of  St Elizabeth of Thuringia (Franciiscan tertiary)
St Zdislava of Lemberk 1220 - 1252 - Patron saint of Difficult marriages; people ridiculed for their piety, was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1995

As a child of seven, Zdislava, the daughter of a Czech aristocratic family, ventured into the woods with the intent of becoming a hermitess, but she was soon tracked down and brought home from her adventure. Zdislava married a Czech nobleman, the Count of Lemberk. The couple had four children. Zdislava received Holy Communion almost daily, and experienced many ecstasies and visions.

She devoted herself to the poor, bathing the sick with her own hands, and taking homeless refugees into her home. When on one occasion her husband, exasperated by her charity, angrily went to expel from their castle a fever-stricken beggar she had given a bed to, he was stunned to find in the bed a crucifix instead. The mysterious incident moved him to accede to Zdislava’s desire to fund the foundation of a new Dominican convent. While still young, Zdislava was stricken with a fatal illness. She reassured her husband and children that she hoped to be of more help to them in the next life than she could ever be in this world. Soon after Zdislava’s death on January 1, 1252, her husband experienced a vision of her in glory.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5969
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zdislava_Berka

4th January - St Elizabeth Ann Seton - With a Little Help from Your Friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFUpHZv8tX0

The mission of a priest - St Josemaria Escriva

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYelMWKjsZw
Everyone is called to holiness.....and ordinary life is a path to sanctity.

A university lecturer asks St Josemaria about the role of priests in today's world. This was in the setting of a gathering in Brazil, June 1, 1974, a year before St Josemaria celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his own ordination.


Father, I'm a university lecturer. We know that you, Father, are in the fiftieth year
of your priesthood. We are giving thanks to God for the immense fruitfulness of your work. Father, could you please talk to us briefly about your life as a priest
and also a little about the mission priests have in today's world?
My son, I am very happy to reply to a university man, a colleague.
Ever since I was sixteen I've been in contact with the university world.
And... you didn't say I was old, but you said that I'm
in the fiftieth year of my priesthood; you were very cautious.
And it's true. In the first place, I have to thank God our Lord for these fifty years of work.
I have worked, -- shall I say it the way I usually do, because you'll understand me very well? -- "ut iumentum factus sum apud te..."
don't worry, I'll translate: like a little donkey, do you get it?
Yes, Father.
Before God, I'm like a little donkey, pulling the cart. That has been the job I have dedicated myself to. My job is serving God, and, in God's service, serving all souls without distinction. That's the answer to part of your question. And how do I serve our Lord? By talking to souls about God and only about God.
I forget that I'm a lawyer, I forget that I have three doctorates, they are no use to me.
I only want to remember that I am Christ, and Christ speaks about peace and war,
Christ speaks about giving, and giving ourselves, and Christ always speaks about love.
So, my son, I've given you your answer.
I only know how to talk about God; I can only talk about God; if I talked about anything else except God, I'd get it wrong. And I think that is the mission of a priest:
to talk about God, to repeat again and again the words of Christ our Lord,
the saving teachings of the Redeemer, and to administer the holy sacraments...,
without distinction, with love for everyone equally.

http://www.youtube.com/josemariaescriva

http://a-catholic-life.blogspot.com/2011/10/st-josemaria-escriva-on-guardian-angels.html

"May you seek Christ!
May you find Christ!
May you know Christ!
May you love Christ!
May you serve Christ!
May you be one with Christ!
May you be another Christ, Christ Himself!
May you be His apostle to those around you, so that through you they too will seek, find, know, love and serve Christ!"

the depths of the love of your heart ♥♥♥ - a Marian prayer by the Doctrix Amoris (Ste. Thérèse de Lisieux)

.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk1-kyWi0Pg .