From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    -- 1 Peter 1:15-16 –   
      
      But according to him that hath called you, who is holy, be you also   
   in all manner of conversation holy:  Because it is written: You shall   
   be holy, for I am holy. [ 1 Pe. 1:15-16] DRB   
   ============================   
   After people commit their lives to Christ, they usually still feel a   
   pull back to their old ways. Peter tells us to be like our heavenly   
   Father--holy in everything we do. Holiness means being totally devoted   
   or dedicated to God, set aside for his special use and set apart from   
   sin and its influences. We're to be set apart and different, not   
   blending in with the crowd, yet not being different for the sake of   
   being different. What makes us different are God's qualities in our   
   lives. Our focus and priorities must be his. We cannot become holy on   
   our own, but God gives us his Holy Spirit to help us obey and to give   
   us power to overcome sin. Don't use the excuse that you can't help   
   slipping into sin. Call on God's power to free you from sin's grip.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   January 24th – Bl. Marcolino Amanni, OP   
   (also known as Marcolino of Forlì)   
      
   Born at Forlì in 1317; died January 2, 1397; cultus confirmed in 1750.   
   Marcolino Amanni entered the Dominicans at age 10. He occupies a place   
   unique in Dominican annals because he was almost purely contemplative.   
      
   There is outwardly little to record of Blessed Marcolino, except that   
   for 70 years he kept the Dominican Rule in all its rigor. That is a   
   claim to sanctity that can be made by very few, and is of itself   
   enough to entitle him to canonization. He did accomplish the reform of   
   several convents that had fallen from their primitive fervor, but this   
   he did by his prayers and his example rather than by teaching or   
   preaching.   
      
   It is related that Marcolino was most at home with the lay brothers,   
   or with the neighborhood children who enjoyed talking to him. He   
   seldom went out of his cell, and could not have engaged in any active   
   works; neither did he leave any writings. His work was the unseen   
   labor presided over by the Holy Spirit, the work of contemplation.   
      
   "To give to others the fruits of contemplation," is the Dominican   
   motto and one might be curious to know how Blessed Marcolino   
   accomplished this. In order to understand the need for just such a   
   type of holiness, it is well to remember the state of the Church in   
   the 14th century. Devastated by plague and schism, divided and held up   
   to scorn, preyed upon by all manner of evils, the Church militant was   
   in need, not only of brave and intelligent action, but also of prayer.   
   Consistently through the centuries, God has raised up such saints as   
   could best avert the disasters that threatened the world in their day,   
   and Marcolino was one answer to the need for mystics who would plead   
   ceaselessly for the Church.   
      
   The interior life of Marcolino was not recorded by himself or by   
   others. He lived the mystical life with such intensity that he was   
   nearly always in ecstasy and unconscious of the things around him.   
   Some one of his brothers recorded that he seemed "a stranger on earth,   
   concerned only with the things of heaven." Most of his brethren   
   thought him merely sleepy and inattentive, but actually he was, for   
   long periods, lost in converse with God. Some had heard him talking   
   earnestly to the statue of Our Lady in his cell; some fortunate few   
   had heard Our Lady replying to his questions, with the same   
   simplicity.   
      
   At the death of Marcolino, a beautiful child appeared in the streets,   
   crying out the news to the little town that the saintly friar was   
   dead. As the child disappeared when the message was delivered, he was   
   thought to have been an angel. Many miracles were worked at the tomb   
   of Marcolino. One was the miraculous cure of a woman who had been   
   bedridden for 30 years. Hearing of the death of the blessed, she   
   begged him to cure her so that she could visit his tomb (Attwater2,   
   Benedictines, Dorcy).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Humility and charity are the two master-chords: one, the lowest; the   
   other, the highest; all the others are dependent on them. Therefore it   
   is necessary, above all, to maintain ourselves in these two virtues;   
   for observe well that the preservation of the whole edifice depends on   
   the foundation and the root"   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from   
   God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he   
   should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall he render unto   
   him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely   
   God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment   
   (Job 34:10-12 )   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Saint Anthony, Zealous for Justice   
      
   Dear St. Anthony, you were prompt to fulfill all justice.   
    You gave God and His creation the service He required   
   from you. You respected other people's rights and treated   
   them with kindness and understanding. St. Anthony, Zealous   
   for Justice, teach me the beauty of this virtue. Make me   
   prompt to fulfill all justice toward God and toward all creation.   
    Help me also in my pressing needs. (Name them.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)