March 23: Saint Ottone Frangipane, Confessor

Bonus est dominus sperantibus in eum, animae quaerenti jaeum. Lam. jer. 3.
The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him and to the soul who seeks to conform itself perfectly to His will.
Quae nos agit vesani vitiorum? Sitire absinthium, huius mundi sequi naufragum, vitae labentis pati infortunium, impiae tyrannidis ferre dominium, et non magis convolare ad Sanctorum faelicitatem et ad Angelorum Societatem? S. Bern. in medit.
What strange foolishness it is to love the bitterness, misfortunes, and tyranny of this world instead of aspiring to the joy of the saints and the company of angels by resignation to the Holy Will of God.

Example: To look for God is to struggle to know His will and carry it out like Saint Ottone the Confessor. As soon as he had finished his studies, he threw himself into military service. After having supported the regime of Emporor Lothair who defended Innocent II against Anti-Pope Anaclet, he joined forces with the Sovereign Pontiff Alexander III against Emperor Frederick. Ottone was taken prisoner in this war. He invoked the aid of Saint Bernard, who delivered him from the hands of his enemies while he was sleeping. Bernard made it clear to Ottone that God wanted him to go to war against the attacks of his passions from this point on. Ottone obeyed the order and retired to a solitary cell where he lived an extremely holy life. He never again left that cell but to convert souls, which he was quite successful at all the way up to his death.

Practice: Press on, my dear Lover of God, to seek God in conforming yourself to his Will. He desires that for you so badly that He will take any and all paths just to reach you. If He consoles you, it is to draw you to Him. If He sends afflictions your way, if He rips away your friends, your riches, your glory, then it is all that you may leave your path of vice that distances you from His Will. The shepherd, seeing that his lambs are turning away from the ordinary path, throws stones to one side and the other to keep them walking straight. When plague, famine, and all other miseries afflict you, it's to put you back on the good path and to make your follow the Will of God, which you conform yourself to, that you may render all of your days joyful.