From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God can be your shield.   
      
       God can be your shield. Then no problems of the world can harm you.   
    Between you and all scorn and indignity from others is your trust in God,   
    like a shining shield. Nothing can then have the power to spoil your   
   | inward peace. With this shield, you can attain this inward peace quickly,   
    in your surroundings as well as in your heart. With this inward peace,    
   you do not need to resent the person who troubles you. Instead, you   
    can overcome the resentment in your own mind, which may have   
    been aroused by that person.    
       I pray that I may strive for inward peace. I pray that I may not be    
   seriously upset, no matter what happens around me.    
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
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   June 7th – St. Meriadoc of Vannes   
   (Also known as Meriadec, Meriasek)   
      
   Died c. 688.   
      
   "Poverty is a remover of cares and the mother of holiness."   
   -- Saint Meriadoc.   
      
   Meriadoc, though venerated especially in Cornwall and northern France   
   (Brittany), was probably a Welshman who lived in the 5th or 6th   
   century. He came to Cornwall and founded several churches, one of   
   which at Camborne was once dedicated to him. He became renowned in   
   these parts and a miracle play in Cornish still survives, recounting   
   his legendary exploits.   
      
   He then crossed over into Brittany, where his memory is still strong.   
   In the 16th-century church at Plougasnou is a reliquary containing   
   what may well be part of Meriadoc's skull. At Stival is preserved what   
   purports to be his bell. Placed on the heads of the deaf and those   
   suffering migraine, it is said to heal them. Some documents state that   
   Meriadoc even became bishop of Vannes at a time when it was one of the   
   most important cities of Brittany.   
      
   Meriadoc had been a rich man. Before becoming a hermit he gave all his   
   money to poor clerics, distributing his lands to the needy. So great   
   became his reputation for sanctity that he feared he would become vain   
   and retired even further from the world. Instead of the silks and   
   purple that he once wore, Meriadoc new dressed in rags, eating simple   
   food, living in complete poverty.   
      
   When his relatives tried to make him leave his new life and return to   
   the world, he told the viscount of Rohan who had come with these   
   relatives that he would be better engaged extirpating the thieves and   
   robbers of the neighborhood. The viscount took the saint at his word,   
   and a great evil was removed from Brittany.   
      
   Although Meriadoc was unanimously elected bishop of Vannes, he took   
   the bishopric reluctantly. After his consecration he continued a life   
   of abstinence and love for the poor. He died kissing his brethren and   
   crying, "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my Spirit" (Bentley).   
      
   Nothing is actually known of Meriadoc's history, but a conjectural   
   outline of his career based on topographical data was suggested in a   
   very learned investigation by Canon G. H. Doble. The point that the   
   name is Welsh confirms the assumption that Meriadoc was a Welshman.   
   From Wales he seems to have passed first to Cornwall, where he founded   
   one or more churches, and then to Brittany. The circumstance that the   
   parish of Camborne, with which he is associated, is adjacent to that   
   of Gwinear, coupled with the fact that St. Meriadoc and St. Gwinear   
   are both venerated in the Breton parish of Pluvigny, i.e. St. Gwinear,   
   suggests the hypothesis that the two holy men, both of whom have Welsh   
   names, were companions who went together to Cornwall and Brittany. He   
   may have been a regionary bishop, but he was never bishop of Vannes,   
   although his name appears in the official list.   
      
      
   Troparion of St Meriadoc tone 4   
      
   O Meriadoc holy hermit,/   
    through thy simplicity thou didst draw many souls to God./   
    Near the church of the Mother of God in Camborne/   
   Thou didst cause a healing well to rise. /   
   We glorify God Who has glorified thee.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Obedience is, without doubt, more meritorious than any austerity. And   
   what greater austerity can be thought of than that of keeping one's   
   will constantly submissive and obedient?   
   --St. Catherine of Bologna   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in   
   heaven and in earth. 19 Going therefore, teach ye all nations;   
   baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the   
   Holy Ghost. 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have   
   commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the   
   consummation of the world.  (Matthew 28:18-20)   
      
      
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    Prayer against Covetousness   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, who though Thou wast rich yet for our sakes didst   
   become poor, grant that all over-eagerness and covetousness of earthly goods   
   may die in us, and the desire of heavenly things may live and grow in us;   
   keep us from all idle and vain expenditures, that we may always have to give   
   to him that needeth, and that giving not grudgingly nor of necessity, but   
   cheerfully, we may be loved of Thee, and be made through Thy merits   
   partakers of the riches of Thy heavenly treasure. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)