From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    -- Psalm 119:44-48 --    
      
   I will always obey your law,    
   for ever and ever.   
   I will walk about in freedom,   
   for I have sought out your precepts.    
   I will speak of your statutes before kings    
   and will not be put to shame,    
   for I delight in your commands   
   because I love them.    
   I reach out for your commands, which I love,   
   that I may meditate on your decrees.   
   __________________________   
      
   The psalmist talks about keeping the laws and yet being free. Contrary to what   
   we often expect, obeying God's laws does not inhibit or restrain us. Instead   
   it frees us to be what God designed us to be. By seeking God's salvation and   
   forgiveness, we have    
   freedom from sin and the resulting oppressive guilt. By living God's way, we   
   have freedom to fulfill God's plan for our lives.   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   February 12th - St. Meletius of Antioch B (RM)     
      
   Born at Melitene, Lower Armenia; died in Constantinople in 381.  Meletius was   
   born into a distinguished family and was appointed bishop of Sebastea about   
   358 but fled to the desert and then to Beroea, Syria, when the appointment   
   caused great dissension.    
   In 361, a group of Arians and Catholics elected him archbishop of Antioch, a   
   church that had been oppressed by the Arians since the banishment of Saint   
   Eustathius in 331. He was a compromise candidate between the two groups, and   
   though confirmed by    
   Emperor Constantius II, he was opposed by some Catholics because Arians had   
   participated in his election. The Arian hope that he would join them was   
   dashed when he expounded the Catholic position before the pro-Arian emperor.   
      
   He and several other bishops were ordered to expound upon the text of the Book   
   of Proverbs: "The Lord has created me in the beginning of His ways." First,   
   George of Alexandria explained it in an Arian sense. Then Acacius of Caesarea   
   gave it a meaning    
   bordering on the heretical, but Meletius expounded it in the Catholic sense   
   and connected it with the Incarnation. This public testimony so angered the   
   Arians that the Arian Bishop Eudoxus of Constantinople was able to convince   
   the emperor to exile    
   Meletius to Lower Armenia (only a month after he took possession of his see)   
   and to appoint Arian Euzoius, who had previously been excommunicated by   
   Patriarch Saint Alexander of Alexandria, to his episcopal chair. Thus began   
   the famous Meletian schism of    
   Antioch, although started with the banishment of Saint Eustathius. On the   
   death of the emperor in 361, his successor, Julian, recalled Meletius, who   
   found that in his absence, a faction of the Catholic bishops, led by Lucifer   
   Cagliari, had elected    
   Paulinus archbishop.   
      
   The Council of Alexandria in 362 was unsuccessful in healing the breach, and   
   an unfortunate rift between Saint Athanasius and Meletius in 363 exacerbated   
   the matter. During the next 15 years, Meletius was exiled (356-66 and 371-78)   
   by Emperor Valens    
   while the conflict between the Arian and Catholic factions raged.   
      
   Gradually, Meletius's influence in the East grew as more bishops supported   
   him. By 379, the bishops backing him numbered 150, in contrast to his 26   
   supporters in 363.The rift between the contending Catholic factions, however,   
   continued despite the    
   untiring efforts of Saint Basil, who was unswerving in his support of   
   Meletius, to resolve the matter.   
      
   In 374, the situation was further complicated when Pope Damasus recognized   
   Paulinus as archbishop, appointed him papal legate in the East, and Saint   
   Jerome allowed himself to be ordained a priest by Paulinus. In 378, the death   
   of the avidly pro-Arian    
   Valens led to the restoration of the banished bishops by Emperor Gratian, and   
   Meletius was reinstated. He was unable to reach an agreement with Paulinus   
   before his death in Constantinople in May while presiding at the third General   
   Council of    
   Constantinople. His funeral was attended by all the fathers of the council and   
   the faithful of the city. St. Meletius has left treatises on the   
   consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father, and a letter to the   
   emperor Jovian concerning the Holy    
   Trinity.   
      
   According to Alban Butler, St. Gregory of Nyssa gave the funeral oration   
   describing him as a man of, "...sweet calm look and radiant smile, the kind   
   hand seconding the kind voice....He now sees God face to face and prays for us   
   and for the ignorance of    
   the people..."   
   Five years later St. John Chrysostom, whom St. Meletius had ordained deacon,   
   pronounced his panegyric on February 12-the day of his death or of his   
   translation to Antioch. His panegyrics by St. Gregory of Nyssa and Chrysostom   
   are still extant.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   His Majesty [the Lord] . . . rewards great services with trials,    
   and there can be no better reward, for out of trials springs love for God.    
   --St. Teresa of Avila   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   But he giveth greater grace. Wherefore he saith: God resisteth the proud, and   
   giveth grace to the humble. 7 Be subject therefore to God, but resist the   
   devil, and he will fly from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to   
   you. Cleanse your hands,    
   ye sinners: and purify your hearts, ye double minded.   (James 4:6-8)    
      
      
   <><><><>   
   In the Lives of the Fathers, we read that St. Amonius had arrived at such   
   great perfection that he was as insensible to insults as a stone; and no   
   matter how many were inflicted upon him, he never considered that any injury   
   had been done him. In the same    
   Lives, it is related that the Abbot John one day told his disciples the story   
   of a youth, who, for having grievously insulted his master, was condemned to   
   remain for three years in menial employment and to receive all the insults   
   that might be inflicted    
   upon him, without ever avenging himself at all. Returning to his master after   
   this time had expired, he was told that for the next three years he must   
   reward whoever did him an injury. Having faithfully done this, he was sent to   
   Athens to study    
   philosophy. He entered the school of an old master who was accustomed to   
   ill-treat all his scholars at their entrance. He did the same in this case;   
   but the newcomer only laughed, and on being asked the reason of his conduct,   
   he answered: "How can I help    
   laughing, when I have so long paid for ill-usage, and now I find it without   
   paying anything?" "My children," added the holy Abbot, when he had finished   
   his story, "submission to injuries is the road by which our Fathers have   
   passed to go to the Lord; and    
   difficult as it appears at first, you see that by habit it becomes not only   
   easy, but even pleasant."   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". February - Humility)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)