⛪ Saint of the Day : January 13
VERONICA'S parents were peasants of a village near Milan. From her
childhood she toiled hard in the house and the field, and accomplished
cheerfully every menial task. Gradually the desire for perfection grew within her; she became deaf to the jokes and songs of her companions,
and sometimes, when reaping and hoeing, would hide her face and
weep. Knowing no letters, she began to be anxious about her learning,
and rose secretly at night to teach herself to read. Our Lady told her
that other things were necessary, but not this. She showed Veronica
three mystical letters which would teach her more than books. The
first signified purity of intention; the second, abhorrence of
murmuring or criticism; the third, daily meditation on the Passion. By
the first she learned to begin her daily duties for no human motive, but
for God alone; by the second, to carry out what she had thus begun by
attending to her own affairs, never judging her neighbor, but praying
for those who manifestly erred; by the third she was enabled to forget
her own pains and sorrows in those of her Lord, and to weep hourly,
but silently, over the memory of His wrongs. She had constant
ecstasies, and saw in successive visions the whole life of Jesus, and
many other mysteries. Yet, by a special grace, neither her raptures nor
her tears ever interrupted her labors, which ended only with death.
After three years' patient waiting she was received as a lay-sister in
the convent of St. Martha at Milan. The community was extremely
poor, and Veronica's duty was to beg through the city for their daily
food. Three years after receiving the habit she was afflicted with secret
but constant bodily pains, yet never would consent to be relieved of
any of her labors, or to omit one of her prayers. By exact obedience she
became a living copy of the rule, and obeyed with a smile the least hint
of her Superior. She sought to the last the most hard and humbling
occupations, and in their performance enjoyed some of the highest
favors ever granted to a Saint. She died in 1497, on the day she had
foretold, after a six months’ illness, aged fifty-two years, and in the
thirtieth of her religious profession.
⛪ Reflection —When Veronica was urged in sickness to accept some
exemption from her labors, her one answer was, "I must work while I
can, while I have time." Dare we, then, waste ours?
Source : Pictorial Lives of Saints