From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Purpose of Temptation:   
      
    The purpose of temptation is to test humans to determine their   
   worthiness to receive life eternal: "Blessed is the man who endures   
   temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown   
   of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." [James   
   1:12] "We must through many tribulations (trials) enter the kingdom of   
   God." [Acts 14:22] God tests all things because he desires a perfect   
   and everlasting world--eternity; if such a world is to be, nothing   
   evil (destructive) can be permitted to enter therein: "Blessed are   
   they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb: that they may   
   have a right to the tree of life and may enter in by the gates into   
   the city. Without are dogs and sorcerers and unchaste and murderers   
   and servers of idols and every one that loveth and maketh a lie. "   
   [Revelation 22:14-15]   
      
      
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   July 15th – St. James of Nisibis   
   (d. 350)   
      
   This eminent Saint and glorious Doctor of the Syrian Church was a   
   native of Nisibis, a city near the border of the Roman Empire and   
   Persia. In his youth, entering the world, he trembled at the sight of   
   its vices and the slippery downhill path of its pleasures. He thought   
   it wise to adopt retirement, that he might gain strength and   
   afterwards be better able to stand his ground in the field. He   
   therefore chose the highest and most inaccessible mountain for his   
   dwelling place, with a cave for shelter in winter, while for the rest   
   of the year he lived in the forest, continually exposed to the open   
   air. Notwithstanding his desire to live unknown to men, he was   
   discovered. He was highly favored with the gifts of prophecy and   
   miracles, and many were not afraid to climb the rugged rocks that they   
   might recommend themselves to his prayers, and receive the comfort of   
   his spiritual advice.   
      
   After a number of years he left his solitude to enter Persia, where he   
   knew that there was a virtually infinite multitude of idolaters. There   
   his prayers wrought miracles which changed the attitude of a   
   considerable number. When he returned to Nisibis, he found the   
   bishop's palace vacant after the death of the prelate. The clergy and   
   people unanimously chose Saint James to replace him, overcoming his   
   humility by their persistent persuasion.   
      
   One day, as the bishop was traveling, he was accosted by a gang of   
   beggars intending to extort money from him under the pretext of having   
   to bury one of their companions. The latter had stretched out on the   
   ground as though dead. The holy man gave them what they asked, and   
   "offering up supplications to God as for a soul departed, he prayed   
   that His Divine Majesty would pardon that man the sins he had   
   committed while he lived, and admit him into the company of the   
   Saints." As soon as the Saint had passed on, the beggars called out to   
   their companion to get up and receive his share of the booty. How   
   amazed they were to find him genuinely dead! Seized with sudden fear   
   and grief, they cried out in the utmost consternation and immediately   
   ran after the man of God, casting themselves at his feet and   
   confessing their fraud. They begged his forgiveness and besought him   
   by his prayers to restore their unhappy companion to life, and this   
   the Saint did.   
      
   The most famous miracle of our Saint was that by which he protected   
   his native city from the barbarians. Sapor II, the haughty King of   
   Persia, was besieging Nisibis with the whole strength of his empire   
   while Saint James was its bishop. The prelate would not pray for the   
   destruction of anyone, but implored divine Mercy that the city might   
   be delivered from the calamities of so terrible a siege. Then, going   
   to the top of a high tower and turning his gaze towards the enemy, he   
   looked down upon the prodigious multitude of men and beasts, covering   
   the whole country. He prayed, "Lord, Thou art able by the weakest   
   means to humble the pride of Thy enemies; defeat these multitudes by   
   an army of gnats." God heard the humble prayer of His servant. He had   
   hardly finished speaking these words, when whole clouds of gnats and   
   flies came pouring down upon the Persians, entering into the   
   elephants' trunks and the horses' ears and nostrils. The animals   
   chafed and foamed and threw their riders, and the entire army was cast   
   into confusion and disorder. A famine and pestilence followed and   
   carried off a great number of the invaders. The King of Persia, after   
   remaining more than three months before the walls, set fire to all his   
   engines of war and abandoned the siege; he retreated, having lost   
   twenty thousand of his men.   
      
   When Sapor was again repulsed from outside the walls of Nisibis in   
   359, he turned his arms against the neighboring city of Amidus, seized   
   that stronghold, and put the garrison and most of the inhabitants to   
   death by the sword. The citizens of Nisibis attributed their   
   preservation from this second attack to the intercession of their   
   glorious patron, Saint James, although he had already gone to his   
   reward. He died in the year 350.   
      
   Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler's Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea   
   (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894)   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Always bear in mind this determination to die rather to fail to reach   
   the end of the way, if God ever causes you to suffer from thirst as He   
   guides you this life, it is because He will give you drink in plenty   
   in the next life, without any fear of it ever failing you.   
   --St. Teresa of Avila   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose   
   words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea   
   in a way that could never be put into words.  (Romans 8:26 )   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Lord, let me not henceforth desire health or life, except to spend them for   
   Thee, with Thee, and in Thee. Thou alone knoweth what is good for me; do,   
   therefore, what seemeth Thee best. Give to me, or take from me; conform my   
   will to Thine; and grant that, with humble and perfect submission, and in   
   holy confidence, I may receive the orders of Thine eternal Providence; and   
   may equally adore all that comes to me from Thee; through Jesus Christ our   
   Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)