From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Let us bind ourselves to Christ   
      
       It is right that we follow the example of John the Baptist and   
   listen to the outstanding works Christ has done, even when we are   
   bound by  the chains of our sins. So powerful is the word of God that   
   we shall be set free by its efficacy and sing triumphantly with the   
   prophet: Lord, you have broken my bonds; I will offer you  the   
   sacrifice of praise. Let us bind ourselves to Christ as his disciples   
   and with ardent  desire and constant prayer humbly beg him to be our   
   teacher, so that, taught by him, we may believe in him as true Messiah   
   and, as believers, may love him with pure hearts as we ought. Finally,   
   let us in every place keep our hearts focused on our king as a   
   powerful  example. By word and deed he makes it clear that he is   
   Messiah and true Christ; let us  likewise show ourselves complete   
   Christians in his image by our faith that works through love, for the   
   Lord says: Behold, I am coming quickly, to render each according to   
   his works. If  these works are holy, they will not leave their doers   
   until they have led them into heaven and everlasting glory, by the   
   power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with the Father and the   
   Holy Spirit through all ages. Amen.   
   --Alonso de Orozco, O.S.A.   
      
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   February 4th - St. Gilbert of Sempringham   
   (1083?–1189)   
      
   St. Gilbert of Sempringham founded the only medieval religious order   
   of English origin – an unusual sort of congregation that Henry VIII   
   destroyed during the English Reformation.   
      
   Gilbert was born at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, the son of an   
   Anglo-Norman knight, Jocelin, a great land holder, and his wife, a   
   woman of humble Anglo-Saxon background. Physically ill-fitted for the   
   life of a soldier or knight, Gilbert was sent to France for higher   
   studies. After finishing the course, he remained in France for a while   
   as a teacher.   
      
   On his return to England, Gilbert’s father assigned him the annual   
   income of two parish churches on the family estates. According to the   
   contemporary feudal custom, Jocelin’s son only had to become a lesser   
   cleric in order to receive, for his support, the pastors’ income of   
   the two churches. Gilbert did become a lesser cleric of the diocese of   
   Lincoln, and he did accept the two parish “benefices”, but he used the   
   income of only one of them for his own needs, devoting the other sum   
   to the needs of the poor. In 1123 he was ordained deacon and priest by   
   the bishop of Lincoln.   
      
   In 1131 Jocelin died and Gilbert, succeeding him as lord of the manor,   
   returned to Sempringham. That same year he began his real career,   
   founding a little religious community of seven young women under the   
   Benedictine rule. The order grew, so it became necessary to accept lay   
   sisters as well; and later on, lay brothers to take care of the nuns’   
   farms.   
      
   He went to France in 1147 to ask the Cistercian monks to assume   
   management of this religious community. When they declined because it   
   was not their custom to supervise convents for women, Pope Eugene III   
   urged Father Gilbert to head the community himself. He accepted, and   
   eventually added to it another branch for priests. The priests’ branch   
   was governed by the rule of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine.   
      
   By 1500 there would be 25 houses of Gilbertines: 22 in England, two in   
   Ireland, and one in Scotland. They continued as “double monasteries”,   
   usually with more female than male members, all under the rule of one   
   master general. The prior and prioress of each house had equal   
   authority in the order. The founder remained grand master until he was   
   about 100; then he appointed a successor. Thus far Gilbert had been a   
   diocesan priest; only after retirement did he take vows as a member of   
   the Gilbertines.   
      
   Throughout his career as a founder, St. Gilbert was noted for his   
   austere life and his solicitude for the poor. The government of his   
   order caused him much grief. At one point in his later years, the   
   Gilbertine lay brothers revolted and started a campaign of calumny   
   against him. Only after some time was his reputation cleared, with the   
   backing of King Henry II and Pope Alexander III.   
      
   Yet another calumny was leveled at him later on. During the struggle   
   between Henry II and St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury,   
   Gilbert and his monastic aides were accused of having sent Becket   
   assistance during his exile. The charge was untrue. Yet, so delicate   
   was the conscience of St. Gilbert that he was ready to submit to   
   imprisonment rather than defend himself, for if he denied the   
   accusation, he felt he would be implying that Becket had done   
   something wrong, and if he had helped him he would have been guilty of   
   sin.   
      
   Dying at age 106, St. Gilbert was canonized 13 years later. His shrine   
   at Sempringham became a place of pilgrimage. It is said, however, that   
   in the 13th century King Louis VIII of France transferred the relics   
   to the church of St. Sernin in Toulouse, France.   
      
   English Catholics have not forgotten, however, this saintly   
   contemporary of St. Thomas of Canterbury. His feast is celebrated   
   annually in the Catholic dioceses of Northampton and Nottingham; the   
   former diocese has one, and the latter, two churches dedicated to his   
   memory.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For my people have committed two crimes: they have abandoned me, the   
   fountain of living water, and dug water-tanks for themselves, cracked   
   water-tanks that hold no water.  [Jeremiah 2:13]   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the   
   bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the   
   Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the   
   oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes   
   the faithful each day with food from heaven.   
   --St. Peter Chrysologus, Homilie 67: PL 52, 392   
      
      
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   PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY # 1   
      
      
   Eternal Father,   
   we praise you for sending your Son   
   to be one of us and to save us.   
   Look upon your people with mercy,   
   for we are divided in so many ways,   
   and give us the Spirit of Jesus to make us one in love.   
      
   We ask this gift, loving Father,   
   through Jesus Christ our Lord.   
      
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)