From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Reading the Holy Scriptures  [II]   
      
   Men pass away, but the word of the Lord endures forever (Ps. 127:2).   
   God speaks to us in different ways, (Col. 3:25) and is no respecter of   
   persons (Ecclus 6:35; 8-9). But curiosity often hinders us in the   
   reading of the Scriptures, for we try to examine and dispute over   
   matters that we should pass over and accept in simplicity. If you   
   desire to profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and have   
   no concern to appear learned. Ask questions freely, and listen in   
   silence to the words of the Saints; hear with patience the parables of   
   the fathers, for they are not told without good cause.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ  Bk 1 Ch 5   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   January 7th - St. Aldric, Bishop of Le Mans   
   (Also known as Aldericus, Audry)   
      
   THIS saint was born of a noble family, partly of Saxon and partly   
   Bavarian extraction, about the year 800. At 12 years of age he was   
   sent by his father to the court of Charlemagne where, in the household   
   of Louis the Pious, he gained the esteem of the whole court. About the   
   year 821 he retired from Aix-la-Chapelle to Metz, where he entered the   
   bishop’s school and received clerical tonsure. After his ordination   
   the Emperor Louis called him again to court, and made him his chaplain   
   and confessor. In 832 St. Aldric was chosen bishop of Le Mans. He   
   employed his patrimony and his whole interest in relieving the poor,   
   providing public services, establishing churches and monasteries, and   
   promoting religion. In the civil wars which divided the empire his   
   fidelity to Louis and to his successor, Charles the Bald, was   
   inviolable. For almost a year he was expelled by a faction from his   
   see, Aldric having antagonized the monks of Saint-Calais by claiming   
   that they were under his jurisdiction. The claim was not upheld,   
   though supported by forged documents, for which the bishop himself is   
   not known to have been personally responsible.   
      
   Some fragments have reached us of the regulations which Aldric made   
   for his cathedral, in which he orders ten wax candles and 90 lamps to   
   be lighted on all great festivals. We have three testaments of this   
   holy prelate extant. The last is an edifying monument of his piety: in   
   the first two, he bequeaths lands and possessions to many churches of   
   his diocese, adding prudent advice and regulations for maintaining   
   good order and a spirit of charity. The last two years of St. Aldric’s   
   life he was paralysed and confined to bed, during which time he   
   redoubled his fervour and assiduity in prayer. He died January 7, 856,   
   and was buried in the church of St. Vincent, of which, and of the   
   monastery to which it belonged, he had been a great benefactor.   
      
   The medieval Latin life of St. Aldric has been re-edited by Charles   
   and Froger, Gesta domini Aldrici (1890). No scholar now regards it as   
   fully reliable, but the first 44 chapters seem to be older and more   
   trustworthy than the rest. Some attempts have been made to connect St.   
   Aldric with the compilation of the Forged Decretals, but this idea has   
   not found much favour, though Paul Fournier has shown good reason for   
   believing that they first took shape in the neighbourhood of Le Mans   
   during his episcopate. On the other hand, Julien Havet has argued that   
   the first 44 chapters of the Gesta were written as a piece of   
   autobiography by Aidric himself. In any case Havet seems to have   
   proved that in contrast to the chapters in the later portion of the   
   Gesta and those in the Actus pontificum Cenomannis...the 19 documents   
   incorporated in the first 44 chapters are all authentic. See J. Havet,   
   Oeuvres, vol. i, pp. 287-292, 317 seq., and Analecta Bollandiana   
   (1895), vol. xiv, p.446 cf. also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii,   
   pp. 313-317, 327-328, 342-343; M. Besson in DHG., vol. ii, cc. 68-69.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "What are all the gains, all the fortunes, all the offices and   
   careers, even all the kingdoms of the world, compared to an offence   
   against God, to a sin which is the greatest evil in the world? There   
   is no work greater or more noble either in heaven or on earth than   
   this: to prevent offences [sins] against God."   
   --St. Joseph Cafasso (Confessor, 1811-1860) - "The Priest The Man Of   
   God. His Dignity and Duties   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "I say to you that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one   
   sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not   
   penance"  (Luke 15:7)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Sursum Corda: Lift Up Your Hearts   
      
    “Lift up your hearts!” This is the exhortation of the Church to her   
   children in the Preface of the Mass. Lift up your hearts by means of   
   meditation and prayer in the midst of the allurements and   
   entanglements of the world, in order that you may so pass through   
   things temporal as not to lose the things that are eternal.   
      
   Lift up your hearts in your work. “All whatsoever you do in word or in   
   work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to   
   God and the Father by Him” (Col. Iii.17). “Therefore, whether you eat   
   or drink or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1   
   Cor.x.31). Lift up your hearts in daily supplication that you may live   
   and die in the love and grace of God.   
      
   “By two wings,” says the Imitation, “is many lifted above earthly   
   things”; namely, by simplicity of intention and by purity of   
   affection; hence the watchword:   
      
   For God Alone! And My God and My All!   
      
   “Aspire to God,” says St. Francis de Sales, “with short but frequent   
   outpourings   
      
   of the heart.” And St. Philip Neri encourages us likewise, saying: “It   
   is an old custom with the servant of God always to have some little   
   prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during   
   the day, lifting their minds to God from out of the filth of this   
   world. He who adopts this plan will derive great fruit with little   
   pains.”   
      
    Lift up your hearts to Mount Olivet, where Jesus is writhing in His   
   awful agony,   
      
   Up to Mount Calvary, where Jesus is dying on the cross; up to heaven,   
   where Jesus is enthroned in His glory. If with mortal eyes you are not   
   able to behold the full glory of this abode of the blessed, and if you   
   cannot draw near to Him, the Eternal One, because He dwells “in the   
   light inaccessible,” do not be discouraged, lift up your hearts! For   
   in the light of the bright ray which God will cause to shine upon you,   
   you will be able to form at least some faint conception of the glories   
   of the celestial city.   
      
   Lift up your hearts to heaven! There alone is an object truly worthy   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)