From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Ardent Love and Eager Desire to Receive Christ  [III]   
      
   Accept, O Lord my God, my vows and my desire to offer Thee infinite   
   praise and boundless blessing; for these are Your rightful due, by   
   reason of Your unspeakable greatness (Ps. 150:2) These I render, and   
   wish to render every day and every moment of time; and I lovingly pray   
   and entreat all the heavenly host to join with me and all the faithful   
   in offering Thee praise and thanksgiving.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4  Ch.17   
      
      
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   October 3rd - St. Gérard, Abbot of Brogne   
      
   Born at Staves in the county of Namur, towards the end of the ninth   
   century; died at Brogne or St-Gérard, 3 Oct. 959.   
      
   The son of Stance, of the family of dukes of Lower Austrasia, and of   
   Plectrude, sister of Stephen, Bishop of Liège, the young Gérard, like   
   most of the men of his rank, followed at first the career of arms. His   
   piety, however, was admirable amid the distractions of camp. He   
   transformed into a large church a modest chapel situated on the estate   
   of Brogne which belonged to his family. About 917, the Count of Namur   
   charged him with a mission to Robert, younger brother of Eudes, King   
   of France. He permitted his followers to reside at Paris, but himself   
   went to live at the Abbey of St-Denis, where he was so struck by the   
   deifying lives of the monks that, at the conclusion of his embassy,   
   with the consent of the Count of Namur and Bishop Stephen, his   
   maternal uncle, he returned to St-Denis, took the religious habit, and   
   after eleven years was ordained priest. He then requested to be   
   allowed to return to Brogne, where he replaced the lax clerics with   
   monks animated by a true religious spirit. Thereupon he himself   
   retired to a cell near the monastery for more austere mortification.   
   From this retreat he was summoned by the Archbishop of Cambrai who   
   confided to him the direction of the community of St-Ghislain in   
   Hainault. Here also he established monks instead of the canons, whose   
   conduct had ceased to be exemplary, and he enforced the strictest   
   monastic discipline. Gradually he became superior of eighteen other   
   abbeys situated in the region between the Meuse, the Somme, and the   
   sea, and through his efforts the Order of St. Benedict was soon   
   completely restored throughout this region.   
      
   Weighed down by age and infirmities, he placed vicars or abbots in his   
   stead, in the various abbeys with which he was charged, and retired to   
   that of Brogne. He still had courage to take a journey to Rome in   
   order to obtain a Bull confirming the privileges of that abbey. On his   
   return he paid a final visit to all the communities which he had   
   reorganized, and then awaited death at Brogne. His body is still   
   preserved at Brogne, now commonly called St-Gérard.   
      
   Reflection: Though we are in the world, let us strive to separate   
   ourselves from it and consecrate ourselves to God, remembering that   
   “the world passes away, but he who does the Will of God abides   
   forever.” (I John 2:17)   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The more you devote yourself to study of the sacred utterances, the   
   richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil   
   is tilled, the richer the harvest.   
      
   The man who is slow to grasp things but who really tries hard is   
   rewarded, equally he who does not cultivate his God-given intellectual   
   ability is condemned for despising his gifts and sinning by sloth.   
      
   Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches   
   the heart. But when God's grace touches our innermost minds to bring   
   understanding, his word which has been received by the ear sinks deep   
   into the heart.   
   -- Saint Isidore of Seville   
      
      
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   The Litany of Humility   
      
   O Jesus! Meek and humble of heart, hear me.   
   From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me oh Jesus.   
   From the desire of being loved.   
   From the desire of being extolled.   
   From the desire of being honored.   
   From the desire of being praised.   
   From the desire of being preferred to others.   
   From the desire of being consulted.   
   From the desire of being approved.   
   From the fear of being humiliated.   
   From the fear of being despised.   
   From the fear of suffering rebukes.   
   From the fear of being calumniated.   
   From the fear of being forgotten.   
   From the fear of being ridiculed.   
   From the fear of being wronged.   
   From the fear of being suspected.   
      
   That others may be loved more than I, .Jesus grant me the grace to desire   
   it.   
   That others may be esteemed more than I, .   
   That in the opinion of the world others may increase and I may decrease, .   
   That others may be chosen and I set aside, .   
   That others may be praised and I unnoticed, .   
   That others may be preferred to me in everything, .   
   That others become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I   
   should, .   
      
   -- Cardinal Merry del Val   
      
   The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;   
   A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)