|
Pandita
Ramabai, by Helen S. Dyer. Revival Press, 2014.
Pandita, the daughter of a wealthy Bhahmin scholar and his young wife, was born in Karnataka, India. Her father taught her to read Sanskript at sixteen. She walked across India, gaining for herself fame and “Pandita, Mistress of Wisdom.” At twenty-two, Pandita was married, and widowed a year later. In her time in India, she had become sensitized to the plight of widows and orphans, urging her on to establish centers for their
care. She soon became the leader for the rights and welfare of women in the whole country.
In 1883, Panidta made a trip to England; there she studied the Bible and asked to become a Catholic. Her people back in India, thought she was betraying her own people, and they became enraged. She made
great efforts to teach her people that serving the sick and the poor was truly a work of mercy and part of the Christian tradition, and not just a social ministry. Her companions noticed that she did made no efforts to make converts.
Pandita’s creed was to serve God and her neighbor as herself. Within this
framework, she worked not to pray for the conversion of Hindus but of her fellow Christians.
“People must not only hear about the kingdom of God but must see it in actual operation on a small scale perhaps, but nevertheless on a real
demonstration.”
(Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review)
Hardback, Paperback, Kindle
|
Make the Christian Spirituality Bookstore your starting point for online shopping at Amazon.com. You can buy books, cds, videotapes,
software, appliances and many other products at discount prices. As Amazon.com affiliate, we are paid a small fee for purchases originating from our web site. Every little bit helps! http://shalomplace.com/books/index.html
|
St. Benedict the African: (1526-89). April 3.
His parents were slaves brought from Africa to Messina, Sicily. Freed at 18, Benedict did farm work for a wage and soon saved enough to buy a pair of oxen. He was very proud of those animals. In time, he joined a group of hermits around Palermo and was eventually recognized as their leader. Because these hermits followed the Rule of St. Francis, Pope Pius IV ordered them to join the First Order.
Benedict was eventually novice master and then guardian of the friars in Palermo— positions rarely held in those days by a brother. In fact, Benedict was forced to accept his election as guardian. And when his term ended, he happily returned to his work in the friary
kitchen. Benedict corrected the friars with humility and charity. Once he corrected a novice and assigned him a penance only to learn that the novice was not the guilty party. Benedict immediately knelt down before the novice and asked his pardon.
In later life, Benedict was not possessive of the few things he used. He never referred to them as “mine” but always called them “ours.” His gifts for prayer and the guidance of souls earned him throughout Sicily a reputation for holiness. Following the example of Saint Francis, Benedict kept seven 40-day fasts throughout the year; he also slept only a few hours
each night.
After Benedict’s death, King Philip III of Spain paid for a special tomb for this holy friar. Canonized in 1807, he is honored as a patron saint by African-Americans.
Calendar of Saints
|
|
Affliate Web Sites: Please give them a visit. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
