From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   -- Romans 13:8 --   
      
       Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one   
   another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.   
   ============================   
       Why is love for others called a debt? We are permanently in debt to   
   Christ   
   for the lavish love he has poured out on us. The only way we can even begin to   
   repay this debt is by loving others in turn. Because Christ's love will always   
   be infinitely greater than ours, we will always have the obligation to love our   
   neighbors. Interestingly also, people who focus on others rather than   
   themselves   
   rarely suffer from low self-esteem.   
      
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   August 19th - St. John Eudes   
   (1601-1680)   
      
   France experienced a great spiritual revival in the 17th century. A   
   major figure in that revival was the outstanding home missionary St.   
   John Eudes.   
      
   John was the first-born of Isaac Eudes, a farmer of Normandy. The   
   family was very devout and John showed a precocious spirituality; yet   
   his parents wanted him to marry and carry on the family farm. By 1620,   
   however, he had made a private vow of celibacy, so he declined their   
   proposal.   
      
   In 1621 he began to study theology, with a view to becoming a diocesan   
   priest. Then he changed his mind and joined the Congregation of the   
   Oratory of France. He had the good fortune to be trained there by   
   Pierre de Berulle and Charles de Condren. From them he inherited the   
   idea that the priest, of all people, should strive most for   
   perfection.   
      
   France at that time needed to be shaken up spiritually. One of the   
   means undertaken was the parish mission, which had just been   
   “invented.” Father Eudes was to become the country’s ablest domestic   
   missionary. The mission plan involved two emphases in particular:   
   sermons preached to large crowds, in church or in the open, and   
   sacramental confession. As Eudes himself described this procedure,   
   “The preacher beats the bushes and the confessors catch the bird!”   
      
   As he went around from city to city, hamlet to hamlet, John kept his   
   eyes open for other needs of the spirit. One thing he observed was   
   that there was no special provision for women who had converted from a   
   wayward life. Therefore, in 1641 he himself opened a house of refuge   
   for these penitent women, with some Visitation nuns of Caen in charge.   
   In 1650 this group of Visitandines decided to separate from their   
   community and found another order devoted entirely to this sort of   
   work. They called it the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of   
   Refuge.   
      
   St. John also decided that, given the importance of the priesthood for   
   renewing spirituality, the training of priests should be a priority.   
   Since the Congregation of the Oratory did not want to take on seminary   
   work, Eudes set up, in 1643, a new community of priests without vows   
   to specialize in seminary education. He called them the Congregation   
   of Jesus and Mary. By the time of his death, these “Eudist Fathers”   
   had charge of six French seminaries.   
      
   Another of John’s responses was to those stricken by the plague. He   
   insisted on caring for them with his own hands. So as not to risk   
   carrying their disease to others during the epidemic of 1631, he lived   
   for a while in a huge barrel in the middle of a field, eating food   
   brought to him from a nearby convent. (Thus he became a model for   
   today’s nurses of the victims of AIDS).   
      
   St. John’s great devotion was to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.   
   He did not originate these devotions; it was St. Margaret Mary, from   
   1675 on, who was the chief promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of   
   Jesus. But it was he who got the church to accept liturgical offices   
   in honor of the Sacred Heart of Mary (1642) and the Sacred Heart of   
   Jesus (1672). So he was one of the leading advocates of both of these   
   devotions. His congregation adopted as their badge the symbol of the   
   two hearts joined together.   
      
   Meanwhile, St. John continued his tireless work for the home missions.   
   It was these efforts that eventually brought about his failure in   
   health. In 1675 he preached a nine-week mission in the open air at   
   Saint Lo. As a result, he fell ill from overexertion and was unable to   
   give any missions thereafter.   
      
   Eudes had converted souls not only by his preaching but by his example   
   of personal devotion. He was especially reverent in the celebration of   
   Mass. One of his most famous remarks was that to offer Mass properly   
   one needs three eternities: the first, to prepare for it; the second,   
   to celebrate it; the third, to give thanks for it. How does our   
   participation at Mass accord with St. John’s three criteria?   
      
   Indifference to spiritual things, greed for wealth and success at any   
   price still threaten us today [as they did in the 17th century]. The   
   divide between the “haves” and “have-nots” widens, and injustice is   
   intensified through terror and violence.   
      
   Mankind needs to hear again that it is destined to receive God’s love   
   and to share it with others – for this is man’s true greatness.   
      
   John Eudes, who succeeded in finding the words and deeds needed to   
   convert the lukewarm Christians of his time, also invites us to   
   discover the type of apostles required in our day. And, as Pope Paul   
   VI used to say, ours is a day which will only accept as leaders those   
   who first and foremost are witnesses.”   
   Armand Le Bourgeois CJM Bishop of Autun, France Former Eudist Superior General   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Separate me from myself and from all that is not you, in order to   
   unite and incorporate  me with you. Empty me of myself and of all   
   things, destroy me utterly, in order to fill  me with yourself and to   
   form and establish yourself in me. Cause me henceforth to be  a   
   perfect image of yourself; just as you are a most perfect image of   
   your Father.   
   --St. John Eudes   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   O God, when thou didst go forth before thy people,   
       when thou didst march through the wilderness, Selah   
   8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,   
       at the presence of God;   
   yon Sinai quaked at the presence of God,   
       the God of Israel.  (Psalm 68:7-8)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Saint Anthony, Disperser of Devils   
      
   Dear St. Anthony, it is still as St. Peter said: The devil prowls   
   about, lion-like, looking for someone to devour. I confess that   
   I don't always resist him; I sometimes toy with temptation. St.   
   Anthony, Disperser of Devils, remind me of my duty to avoid   
   all occasions of sin. May I always pray in temptation that I   
   may remain loyal to my Lord Jesus. Pray for my other   
   intentions, please. (Name them.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)