Lord, I make you a present of myself.
    I do not know what to do with myself.
So let me make this exchange:
    I will place myself entirely in your hands,
    if you will cover my ugliness with your beauty,
    and tame my unruliness with your love.
Put out the flames of false passion in my heart,
    since these flames destroy all that is true within me.
Make me always busy in your service.
Lord, I want no special signs from you,
    nor am I looking for intense emotions in response to your love.
I would rather be free of all emotion,
    than to run the danger of falling victim once again to false passion.
Let my love for you be naked, without any emotional clothing.

St Catherine of Genoa, 1447-1510, Italian Catholic mystic

 

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Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, 

preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. 

He took his twelve disciples with him, 

along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. 

Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 

Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others 

who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.