Saint Elizabeth of Portugal

I have been unable to send a note of thanks to you as my generator fell apart and without it I can't charge my laptop. There is no electricity in this little village so I have been struggling along without one. Fortunately I have been able to continue sending out this blog. However, the problem is still there but someone has loaned me a small generator on a temporary basis.
Thanks be to God for you and especially for your much needed donations these past two months. Because of your kindness, I have been able to restock the medicine room and I have been able to open up the gates of Nazareth to all who need help. I still need a lot more Malaria medicine and pediatric medicine as well so I am still begging during this malaria season.

 Last month we had to close the gates of Nazareth for over a week due to lack of medicines. This has never happened before but my good helper, Bob Shrigley was in Massachusetts as his Father passed away. God rest Mr. Shrigley and may he rest in Peace. Because Bob was away he was unable to do anything with donations until yesterday and he Sent the cash to me via Western Union. I would prefer the money to go into my account at Bank of Boston but there is no Bank of America in the city where he has recently moved to, Houma, Louisiana.

 
If you know of any way that donations could be sent direct to my account with the Bank of America, please let me know.

Again I give you thanks and know the Lord Jesus will bless you for your kindness.

All my love and prayers,

Brother dismas Mary.





From a sermon attributed to Peter Chrysologus, bishop

Blessed are the peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers, the evangelist said, dearest brethren, for they shall be called sons of God. Truly Christian virtues grow in a man who enjoys the unchangeable possession of Christian peace, nor does one come to the title of son of God except through that of peacemaker.

  Peace, dearest brethren, rescues man from servitude, provides him with the name of a free man, changes his identity before God together with his condition, from a servant to a son, and from a slave to a free man. Peace among brethren is the will of God, the joy of Christ, the completion of holiness, the rule of justice, the teacher of truth, the guardian of morals and a praiseworthy discipline in every regard. Peace lends strength to our prayers; it is the way our petitions can reach God easily and be credited; it is the plenitude which fulfils our desires. Peace is the mother of love, the bond of concord and the manifest sign of a pure soul, one which seeks to please God, which seeks to be fulfilled and has its desire rewarded. Peace must be preserved according to the Lord’s precepts, as Christ said: I leave you peace, my peace I give you, that is, as I left you in peace, in peace shall I find you. As Christ left the world, he wished to leave the gift he wanted to find when he returned.

  We have a commandment from heaven to retain his gift; his one word is: “I shall find what I left.” God’s is the planting of peace in the root, but the uprooting is from the enemy; for, just as brotherly love comes from God, so hatred comes from the devil; therefore, we must condemn our hatred of men, for it is written: He who hates his brother is a murderer.

  Now you see, dearest brethren, why we should love peace and cultivate harmony: because they beget and nurture love. But you know also from the apostle John that, Love comes from God, and that whoever is not with God does not possess love.

  Let us therefore, my brethren, keep the commandments which are life for us; let us carry on together the obligations of our brotherhood in profound peace; let us bind one another with the ties of salvific charity in this mutual love which covers a multitude of sins. Love ought to be embraced with the grasp of all our desires, since the goods it provides amount to as many rewards. We must keep peace before all other virtues, since God is always in peace.

  Love peace, and all the world will be tranquil and quiet. By doing so you store up rewards for me, and joy for yourselves, that the Church of God may be founded on the bond of peace and may cling to perfect observance in Christ.