From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Awakening the Christ asleep within you   
      
   "When you have to listen to abuse, that means you are being buffeted   
   by the wind. When your anger is roused, you are being tossed by the   
   waves. So when the winds blow and the waves mount high, the boat is in   
   danger, your heart is imperiled, your heart is taking a battering. On   
   hearing yourself insulted, you long to retaliate; but the joy of   
   revenge brings with it another kind of misfortune--shipwreck. Why is   
   this? Because Christ is asleep in you. What do I mean? I mean you have   
   forgotten his presence. Rouse him, then; remember him, let him keep   
   watch within you, pay heed to him... A temptation arises: it is the   
   wind. It disturbs you: it is the surging of the sea. This is the   
   moment to awaken Christ and let him remind you of those words: 'Who   
   can this be? Even the winds and the sea obey him."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Sermons 63:1-3)   
      
      
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   January 17th – Saint Sulpicius of Bourges   
   Also known as Pius of Bourges, Sulpice of Bourges, Sulpicius the Pious   
      
   THE life of St. Sulpicius (Pius), the second bishop of Bourges of that   
   name, which is one of the few biographies admitted even by Krusch to   
   be an authentic Merovingian document, does not supply very much   
   detail, but it must have been composed within a few years of the   
   bishop’s death, and the sincerity and enthusiasm of the writer are   
   unmistakable. Sulpicius was the son of wealthy parents, who renounced   
   the idea of marriage and devoted himself even from his youth to all   
   kinds of good works, and especially to care for the poor. Being   
   elected bishop, he became the father of his people, defended them   
   against the tyranny of Lullo, the minister of King Dagobert, and, as   
   the effect of a general fast which he imposed for three days, obtained   
   considerate treatment for them under Clovis II, Dagobert’s successor.   
   Various miracles, notably the extinction of a great conflagration by   
   making the sign of the cross over it, were attributed to him during   
   his life, and many more took place besides at his tomb after death.   
      
   The chronological data are scanty, but we know that St. Sulpicius   
   attended the Council of Clichy in 627, and that he exchanged letters   
   frequently with St. Didier of Cahors, whom he had consecrated bishop   
   in 630. His austerity of life was remarkable. He spent much of the   
   night in prayer, fasted continually, and recited the entire psalter   
   each day. By the force of his example and his exhortations the whole   
   Jewish population of Bourges was converted to Christianity.   
      
    Towards the end of his days, finding that he could no longer give the   
   same amount of time to the care of the poor and afflicted whom he   
   loved, Sulpicius obtained leave from the king to appoint another   
   bishop in his place, in order that he himself might have more leisure   
   for his works of charity.   
      
    His death, in 647, was followed by extraordinary scenes of which his   
   biographer was evidently an eye-witness. He compares the outcry and   
   lamentations heard on all sides to the rumbling of thunder, and tells   
   us that at his obsequies the vast throng of people, throwing   
   themselves flat on the ground in their sorrow and despair, rendered it   
   almost impossible for the clergy to carry out the offices. “O good   
   shepherd”, they cried, “guardian of exhumation thought the living   
   appearance of the eyes so wonderful that he had thy people, why dost   
   thou forsake us? To whom this day dost thou leave us.”   
      
    Though the times are far removed from our own, the sketch which his   
   biographer has left us gives an impression of such charity, zeal and   
   strict observance as seems befitting in the patron of that famous   
   Paris seminary which was afterwards to bear his name.   
      
   The most reliable text of the life has been printed by B. Krusch in   
   MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. iv, pp. 364-380, from MS. Addit. ii 88o,   
   of the ninth century, in the British Museum. See also the Acta   
   Sanctorum, January 17, Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp 28-29,   
   and BHL., n. 1146. “Pius” is an epithet to distinguish Sulpicius from   
   a namesake.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What   
   we really are consists in what God knows us to be.   
   --St. John Berchmans   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God,   
   rather than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you   
   put to death, hanging him upon a tree. Him hath God exalted with his   
   right hand, to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel,   
   and remission of sins.  (Acts 5:29-31)   
      
      
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    God's angels serve us   
      
   Who are the angels and why do they intervene between heaven and   
   earth?The Scriptures tell us the angels are God's servants and   
   messengers. "They are the mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to   
   the voice of his word" (Psalm 103:20). The angels belong to Christ and   
   were created for and through him (Colossians 1:16). The Letter to the   
   Hebrews speaks of the  role of the angels in God's plan of salvation:   
   "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the   
   sake of those who are to obtain salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)