From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Trusting in the Lord   
      
   "If you put your trust in money, you are paying futile regard to vain   
   things; if you put your trust in high office or some exalted rank in   
   human government, you are paying futile regard to vain things... When   
   you put your trust in all these, either you expire and leave them all   
   behind, or they will crumble while you are still alive, and what you   
   trusted will have let you down...  For my part, I do not put my trust   
   in empty things as they do or pay futile regard to them; I have put my   
   trust in the Lord."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Exposition on the Psalms 31,12)   
      
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   July 21st - St. Victor of Marseille   
      
   Victor, a Catholic officer of the Roman army known for his noble   
   lineage, military valor, and intelligence skills, served in the   
   garrison of Marseille around the year 290. He developed a strong   
   apostolate with his fellow men of arms and the people of the city,   
   stimulating them all to courageously face the persecution of those   
   times.   
      
   His activity was discovered by enemies of the Faith and Victor was   
   denounced to the Emperor. He was brought before two prefects in the   
   city, who, because of his distinction, sent him to the Emperor   
   himself. The tyrant imposed cruel torments on him in an attempt to   
   make him deny the Catholic Faith. All those tortures were futile   
   because Victor remained faithful. After being tortured, he was thrown   
   in a prison, and there he converted the three soldiers who were   
   guarding him. When the Emperor heard this, he ordered that Vincent be   
   taken to a pagan temple to burn incense to the false idol Jupiter.   
   Victor went up to the altar and kicked the statue to the ground.   
      
   Indignant, the Emperor order that Victor’s foot be chopped off and   
   then his body crushed by a millstone. When the mill broke down, he   
   ordered Victor beheaded. In the cave where his remains were conserved,   
   many miracles took place. His relics were kept for centuries in the   
   Abbey of Saint Victor in Marseille. The French Revolution tried to   
   destroy them, but they were preserved and today are in the Church of   
   St. Nicolas of Chardonnay in Paris.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   It would be very interesting if someone would have the time to study   
   how far-reaching the Catholic influence in the Roman army was. The   
   courage of the Roman army was legendary, and under many titles the   
   Roman legionary was the symbol of courage in the popular imagination.   
   History provides ample support for this idea.   
      
   Generally speaking, we know that the Catholic Faith deeply penetrated   
   the Roman army, because many its members died martyrs. Hence, we see   
   that from the beginning of the Catholic Church, the military life and   
   spirit were allied with the Catholic spirit and sanctity.   
      
   Further, we see that the courage required of a legionary acted as a   
   kind of preparation for him to accept the Catholic Religion, the   
   source of all good and everything worthy of praise throughout the   
   world.   
      
   Just as the Church adopted Roman Law, elevated it, purified its many   
   defects and made it the base of Canon Law, in the same way the   
   Catholic Religion broadly penetrated the Roman Patriciate, whose noble   
   families were prepared by the patriarchal spirit to receive the   
   Catholic Church. Thus we can justly ask whether this Catholic   
   influence also penetrated the Roman Legions. The martyrdom of St.   
   Victor allows us to raise this possibility.   
      
   The scene of his martyrdom could not be more beautiful. He was brought   
   before an idol and ordered to burn incense before it. He forcefully   
   kicked it to the ground. It is an act of magnificent courage, of   
   extraordinary fearlessness. It is a symbol of Catholic courage and   
   aggressiveness.   
      
   Should we imitate these attitudes? Yes, in a certain sense. We are not   
   in conditions to imitate the physical aggression, but we can imitate   
   the moral attitude of St. Victor. Often we have to face the idols of   
   the modern world that almost everyone adores. We are also invited to   
   adore them in order to fit into the world. Often we have the   
   opportunity to destroy these idols by giving them a strong kick, so to   
   speak. We should do this rather than bow our heads and tremble before   
   such idols. We should courageously kick these idols to the ground. We   
   have often done exactly this by the grace of Our Lady. We should   
   continue to do so, and now for an additional reason: to follow the   
   example of St. Victor.   
      
   The opposite defect of this courage is human respect, the shame to   
   stand up for Catholic principles, the lack of courage to oppose the   
   revolutionary opinions and fashions that are accepted by the general   
   populace as the only true ones, the only ones with the right of   
   citizenship.   
      
   We should maintain this norm of action: Whenever we are in presence of   
   the arrogant impiety of neo-paganism in any of its forms, our Catholic   
   pride must oppose its arrogance. We should do it in a way that our   
   pride triumph over the revolutionary arrogance. We should not be   
   afraid, for instance, to oppose the French Revolution, its myths and   
   its symbols. We should courageously speak against it, just as St.   
   Victor stood against the false god and kicked the idol to the ground.   
      
   Let us ask him to obtain this precious grace for us.   
      
   http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j186sd_VictorMarseille_7-21.shtml   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   All our good and all our evil certainly lies in the character of our   
   actions. As they are, so are we; for we are the tree, and they the   
   fruit, and, therefore, they prove what each one is.   
   --St. Augustine   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is   
   faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you   
   are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be   
   able to bear it.  (1 Cor. 10:13)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Hymn of the Evening   
      
   O joyful Light! Light and Holy Glory of the Father immortal, the heavenly,   
   holy, the Blessed One; O Jesus Christ. Now that we have reached the   
   setting of the sun, and see the evening light, we sing to God, Father + Son,   
   and Holy Spirit. It is fitting at all times to raise a song of praise in   
   measured melody to You, O Son of God, the giver of life.   
   Behold the universe sings your glory.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)