[continued from previous message]   
      
   when he accompanied King James to the island of Majorca. The king,   
   very loose in his relations with women, promised amendment, but failed   
   to implement his promise; whereupon Raymund asked leave to go back to   
   Barcelona. The king not only refused, but threatened to punish with   
   death any person who attempted to convey him out of the island. Full   
   of confidence in God, Raymund said to his companion, “An earthly king   
   withholds the means of flight, but the King of Heaven will supply   
   them.” He then walked to the sea and, we are told, spread his cloak   
   upon the water, tied up one corner of it to a staff for a sail, and   
   having made the sign of the cross, stepped upon it without fear whilst   
   his companion stood trembling on the shore. On this new kind of vessel   
   the saint was wafted with such rapidity that in six hours he reached   
   the harbour of Barcelona, sixty leagues distant from Majorca. Those   
   who saw him arrive in this manner met him with acclamations. But he,   
   gathering up his cloak dry, put it on, stole through the crowd and   
   entered his monastery. A chapel and a tower, built on the place where   
   he is supposed to have landed, transmitted the memory of this miracle   
   to posterity. During the saint’s last illness, Alphonsus, King of   
   Castile, and James of Aragon visited him, and received his final   
   blessing. St. Raymund gave up his soul to God on January 6 in the year   
   1275, the hundredth of his age. The two kings, with all the princes   
   and princesses of their royal families, honoured his funeral with   
   their presence but his tomb was rendered far more illustrious by   
   miracles. Several (including the one related above) are recorded in   
   the bull of his canonization, published in 1601.   
      
      
   Reflection.   
    Ask Saint Raymond to protect you from the fearful servitude, worse   
   than any bodily slavery, which even one sinful habit tends to form.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Look then on Jesus, the author and preserver of faith: in complete   
   sinlessness he suffered, and at the hands of those who were his own,   
   and was numbered among the wicked. As you drink the cup of the Lord   
   Jesus (how glorious it is!), give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all   
   blessings.   
      
   May the God of love and peace set your hearts at rest and speed you on   
   your journey; may he meanwhile shelter you from disturbance by others   
   in the hidden recesses of his love, until he brings you at last into   
   that place of complete plenitude where you will repose for ever in the   
   vision of peace, in the security of trust, and in the restful   
   enjoyment of his riches.   
   --from a letter by Saint Raymond   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The following was written by St. Augustine, to conclude several of his   
   sermons.  It is completely suitable as an opening prayer for a group, such   
   as the Rosary:   
      
   Let us turn towards the Lord God and Father Almighty, and with a pure heart   
   let us give Him sincere thanks as well as our littleness will allow: Let us   
   with our whole hearts beseech His extraordinary clemency, that He may   
   vouchsafe to hear our prayers according to His good pleasure. May He by   
   His power drive our enemies far from us, lest we fall under the sway of the   
   evil one in act or thought. May He increase our faith, rule our mind, give   
   us spiritual thoughts, and at last lead us to His blessedness, through   
   Jesus Christ His Son.  Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)