From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   When are you to bless the Lord?   
      
   "When are you to 'bless the Lord?' When he showers blessings on you?   
   When earthly goods are plentiful? When you have a plethora of grain,   
   oil, wine, gold, silver...--while your mortal body remains healthy,   
   uninjured and free from disease; while everything that is born on your   
   estate is growing well, and nothing is snatched away by untimely   
   death; while every kind of happiness floods your home and you have all   
   you want in profusion? Is it only then that you are to bless the Lord?   
   No, but 'at all times.' So you are to bless him equally when from time   
   to time, or because the Lord God wishes to discipline you, these good   
   things let you down or are taken from you, when there are fewer births   
   or the already-born slip away. These things happen, and their   
   consequence is poverty, need, hardship, disappointment and temptation.   
   But you sang, 'I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be   
   in my mouth always,' so when the Lord gives you these good things,   
   bless him, and when he takes them away, bless him. He it is who gives,   
   and he it is who takes away, but he does not take himself away from   
   anyone who blesses him.   
    --by Augustine of Hippo (excerpt from EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 34.3)   
      
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   July 30th - Bl. Archangelo of Calatafimi   
      
   d. 1460   
      
   Archangelo was born, a member of the family of Placentini, in Sicily,   
   about the year 1390. From his childhood he was of a religious and   
   retiring disposition and it caused no surprise when in his early   
   manhood he withdrew himself to a cave, there to live in solitude. As   
   so often happens, many people invaded his retreat to seek his advice   
   and conversation, and when it was said that miracles had taken place   
   there, they came in greater numbers.   
      
   This distressed Archangelo; his charity was evoked by the needs of his   
   visitors, but his humility represented him to himself as ill-equipped   
   to help them. So he removed to Alcamo; here he was asked to revive and   
   organize a decayed hospice for the poor, which he undertook, but when   
   it was firmly re-established he once more returned to the solitary   
   life.   
      
   It happened that Pope Martin V saw fit to order all the hermits in   
   Sicily, of which there were many, to return to the world or to accept   
   the religious life in an approved order. Obedient to this decree, Bl.   
   Archangelo went to Palermo and there received the habit of the Friars   
   Minor of the Observance from Bl. Matthew of Girgenti. After profession   
   he was sent to the hospital at Alcamo to establish it as a house of   
   the order, which was done. Archangelo accepted the Rule of St. Francis   
   in all its primitive austerity, and he was withdrawn from Alcamo to be   
   minister provincial of the Sicilian Observants. In that office he was   
   able to come to the help of Bl. Matthew when, after resigning the see   
   of Girgenti, he was shown the door by the father guardian who had   
   succeeded Archangelo at Alcamo. Worn out with penance and work for   
   souls, Archangelo died on April io, 1460, and Pope Gregory XVI   
   confirmed his cultus in 1836.   
      
   The fullest source of information is the volume of Fr A. Gioia, Il   
   beato Arcangelo Placenza da Calatafimi (1926). The author has been   
   able to use the materials submitted for the confirmatio cultus, and   
   also a rare biography of the beatus by P. Longo printed in 1804. See   
   also Leon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng, trans.), vol. ii, pp. 59-64 .   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   He who is kind is free, even if he is a slave. He who is evil is a   
   slave, even if he is king!   
   -- Saint Augustine of Hippo   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of   
   charity, if any society of the spirit, if any bowels of commiseration:   
   2. Fulfill ye my joy, that you may be of one mind, having the same   
   charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment. 3. Let nothing be   
   done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in humility, let   
   each esteem others better than themselves: 4. Each one not considering   
   the things that are his own, but those that are other men's. 5. For   
   let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:   
   (Philippians 2:1-5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   An offering to God the Father   
   St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:   
      
   Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Blood, the Passion, and the   
   Death of Jesus Christ; the sorrows of Mary most Holy and of   
   Joseph in satisfaction for my sins, in aid of the holy souls of   
   Purgatory, for the needs of Holy Mother Church, and the   
   conversion of sinners.  Amen.   
      
   Eternal Father, I offer unto Thee the infinite satisfaction which   
   Jesus rendered to Thy justice in behalf of sinners upon the tree   
   of the Cross; and I pray that Thou wouldst make the merits of   
   His Precious Blood available to all guilty souls to whom sin   
   has brought death; may they rise again to the life of grace and   
   glorify Thee for ever.   
      
   Eternal Father, I offer Thee the fervent devotion of the Sacred   
   Heart of Jesus in satisfaction for the lukewarmness and   
   cowardice of Thy chosen people, imploring Thee by the   
   burning love which made Him suffer death, that it may please   
   Thee to rekindle their hearts now so lukewarm in Thy service,   
   and to set them on fire with Thy love, that they may love Thee   
   for ever.   
      
   Eternal Father, I offer Thee the submission of Jesus to Thy   
   will, and I ask of Thee, through His merits, the fullness of all   
   grace and the accomplishment of all Thy holy will.  Blessed by   
   God.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)