From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
     -- 2 Timothy 2:22 –    
      
   Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love   
   and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.   
   ========================   
   Running away is sometimes considered cowardly. But wise people realize   
   that removing themselves physically from temptation often can be the   
   most courageous action to take. Remove yourself physically from any   
   situation that stimulates your desire to sin. Knowing when to run is   
   as important in spiritual battle as knowing when and how to fight.   
      
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   November 11th - St. Martin of Tours   
   (316?-397)   
      
   If saints, like stars, vary in greatness, St. Martin of Tours is a   
   saint of great magnitude. Although he flourished in ancient times, we   
   know a good deal about him–a further proof of his wide popularity.   
      
   Martin was the son of an Italian officer of the Roman army. He was   
   born in what is now Szombathely, Hungary, when his father was on a   
   military tour of duty; but before long his parents returned to Pavia,   
   Italy, and it was there that the son grew up. Although the parents   
   were pagans, Martin became a Christian catechumen at age 10. Roman law   
   required that the sons of soldiers also be soldiers, so Martin took   
   the military oath at 15, and was discharged only in 356. But his life   
   was more Christian than soldierly, especially after his baptism at 18.   
   From his earliest military years dates the story, legendary but   
   characteristic, of his encounter with the poor man of Amiens, France.   
      
   One wintry day, says the tale, Martin encountered at the city gate a   
   man who stood begging alms, shaking with cold but spurned by   
   passersby. Touched by the sight, the young soldier wanted to help.   
   Since he had no coins on his person, he took off his military cloak,   
   cut it in two with his sword, gave the beggar one part, and donned the   
   other part himself. Some bystanders laughed at this soldier dressed in   
   a ragged half-cape. But that night in a dream, Private Martin saw   
   Jesus himself dressed in the beggar’s half. Jesus said, “Martin, yet a   
   catechumen, covered me with this garment.”   
      
   Eventually the military man decided that as a soldier of Christ he   
   could no longer serve in the ranks. Emperor Julian (“the Apostate”)   
   thereupon jailed him for “cowardice”, but shortly afterward gave him a   
   discharge. Then he returned home and converted his mother and others   
   to Christianity (but not his father).   
      
   For a while he campaigned against the local Arian heretics. (They   
   denied the divinity of Christ.) Then, fascinated by the monastic life   
   that was becoming popular among devout Christians, he took up the life   
   of a hermit on an island near Genoa. After a while he contacted St.   
   Hilary, bishop of Poitiers in western France, and received from him an   
   invitation to move his hermitage to the present Ligugé near Poitiers.   
   When a number of other men came to Ligugé and asked to join him,   
   Martin the hermit established what seems to have been the pioneer   
   monastery in France. This was around 360. During the next decade he   
   not only helped form his disciples in the religious life but preached   
   throughout the countryside of Gaul, which was still largely pagan.   
      
   Gifted with the power of miracles, he was a very successful missionary.   
      
   In 371, the people of Tours insisted that Martin be their bishop. He   
   refused. But after they had tricked him into being consecrated, he   
   finally accepted the task. Unwilling to abandon his monastic life, he   
   set up a new monastery at Marmoutier, near Tours. In a short time the   
   community grew to 80 monks. In this district, too, Bishop Martin   
   became an effective missionary; indeed, he moved out from Touraine   
   into northern Gaul (including Paris) and into the southeast of France.   
      
   The longer Martin lived, the more his influence increased, in matters   
   of state as well as church. Thus he intervened successfully with a   
   tyrannical army officer to prevent him from torturing and executing a   
   number of prisoners. He was less successful, however, in his effort to   
   prevent the government from executing some Priscillianists. Not that   
   he approved the errors of these Christian heretics. He simply believed   
   that the Church, not the civil government, should handle the case, and   
   that death was not an appropriate penalty.   
      
   Martin was still engaged in his tireless labors when it was revealed   
   to him that his death was approaching. He told his disciples of this   
   coming event, but they begged him not to “desert” them. Torn between   
   their will and God’s will, he prayed in anguish, “Lord, if your people   
   still need me, I will keep working.” But whatever delay he was granted   
   was not long. He died in the harness on November 8, 397. Burial was at   
   Tours on November 11, which became his feastday.   
      
   St. Martin’s tomb quickly became one of the most beloved shrines in   
   Europe, and Martin one of the most popular saints, not only in France,   
   where his name is interwoven with many folk traditions (e.g. the name   
   “St. Martin’s Summer” for “Indian Summer”), but especially in   
   England.   
   There the oldest existing church in the country, near Canterbury, is   
   dedicated to him. And to this day, the feast of St. Martin of Tours,   
   “this glory of France and light of the western Church”, is listed in   
   the calendar of the Anglican Church.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do not pass one day without devoting a half hour, or at least a   
   quarter of an hour, to meditation on the sorrowful Passion of your   
   Saviour. Have a continual remembrance of the agonies of your crucified   
   Love, and know that the greatest saints, who now, in heaven, triumph   
   in holy love, arrived at perfection in this way.   
   --St. Paul of the Cross   
      
   Bible Verse   
    And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the   
   firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars   
   for ever and ever.  [Daniel 12:3]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Meditation   
      
   I must keep calm and unmoved in the vicissitudes of life. I must go   
   back into the silence of communion with God to recover this calm    
   when it is lost even for one moment. I will accomplish more by this   
   calmness than by all the activities of a long day. At all cost I will   
   keep calm. I can solve nothing when I am agitated. I should keep away   
   from things that are up setting emotionally. I should run on an even   
   keel and not get tipped over by emotional upsets. I should seek for   
   things that are calm and good and true and stick to those things. I   
   pray that I may not argue nor contend, but merely state calmly what I   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)