From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Discovering heavenly treasure   
      
   Discovering God's kingdom is like stumbling across hidden treasure or   
   finding the one pearl of great price. When we discover the kingdom of   
   God we receive the greatest possible treasure--the Lord himself.   
   Selling all that we have to obtain this incomparable treasure could   
   mean many things--our friends, job, our "style of life", what we do   
   with our free time. Treasure has a special connection to the heart,   
   the place of desire and longing, the place of will and focus. The   
   thing we most set our heart on is our highest treasure.   
      
   In this parable what does the treasure of the kingdom refer to? It   
   certainly refers to the kingdom of God in all its aspects. But in a   
   special way, the Lord himself is the treasure we seek. If the Almighty   
   is your gold and your precious silver, then you will delight yourself   
   in the Almighty (Job 22:22-23).  Is the Lord the treasure and delight   
   of your heart?   
      
   "Lord Jesus, reveal to me the true riches of your kingdom. Help me to   
   set my heart on you alone as the treasure beyond compare with any   
   other. Free my heart of any inordinate desires or attachment to other   
   things that I may freely give to you all that I have in joy and   
   gratitude for all that you have given to me. May I always find joy and   
   delight in your presence."   
      
   =================   
   October 12th - Saint Wilfrid, Archbishop of York   
    (634-709)   
      
   It was the glory of the great Saint Wilfrid to fasten securely the   
   happy links which bound England to Rome. He was born about the year   
   634 of an excellent Christian family; at that time a brightly burning   
   torch was seen over the house of his father, shedding light all along   
   the street where the house was, without doing any damage. This was   
   regarded as a presage that the newborn babe would one day be a   
   brilliant light in the Church.   
      
   Wilfrid was brought up by the Celtic monks at Lindisfarne in the rites   
   and usages of the British Church. Yet even as a boy Wilfrid longed for   
   perfect conformity with the Holy See in discipline as well as in   
   doctrine, and at the first opportunity he set out for Rome. When his   
   devotion and his desire for instruction in the difficulties of the   
   liturgy were satisfied, he was ready to return to England. On his way   
   he visited the archbishop of Lyons, Saint Chamond, who had very kindly   
   received him on his route to Rome. Before re-embarking for England,   
   Wilfrid received the tonsure and remained with him for three years,   
   until his death. At home once more, he built a monastery at Stamford,   
   and made of another one at Ripon a strictly Roman monastery under the   
   rule of Saint Benedict. There he was ordained a priest, and after   
   having governed it as Abbot for five years, he was consecrated a   
   bishop in France. He again remained for a time across the Channel, and   
   then found, when he returned to England, that another had replaced him   
   in his newly assigned see of York. That bishop, whose position was   
   more than doubtful, was persuaded to retire when the Archbishop of   
   Canterbury visited Northumbria; Wilfrid was thereby reinstated in 669.   
   He enforced the Roman obedience in his see and founded many   
   monasteries of the Benedictine Order.   
      
   As Bishop of York he had to combat the passions of wicked kings, the   
   cowardice of worldly prelates, the errors of holy men. He was twice   
   exiled and once imprisoned; finally the difficulties were settled with   
   the aid of Roman authority. In 686 he was called back to his diocese   
   of York, where eventually he swept away the abuses of many years and a   
   too national system, and substituted instead a vigorous Catholic   
   discipline, modeled and dependent on Rome. When the large see of York   
   was definitively divided and suffragan dioceses established, Saint   
   Wilfrid was given two smaller sees but not York. He decided to accept   
   the settlement reached with other British ecclesiastics, since the   
   principle of Roman authority had been vindicated. He died October 12,   
   709, amid the monks of Ripon and was buried in this monastery. A monk   
   of the monastery of Ripon who had worked with Saint Wilfrid for forty   
   years wrote the first biography of the former Abbot and Archbishop.   
   The greater part of his relics were transferred to the cathedral of   
   Canterbury in the year 959.   
      
   Reflection: Trust in the Vicar of Christ is an instinct planted in us   
   for the preservation of the Faith. It follows necessarily upon the   
   reign of our Saviour’s divine love in our hearts.   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul   
   Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 12; Little Pictorial Lives   
   of the Saints   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   There is something in humility that strangely exalts the heart.   
   --St. Augustine   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And will not God revenge his elect who cry to him day and night? And   
   will he have patience in their regard?  (Luke 18:7) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The Prayer for Courage   
      
   Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous,   
   teach me to serve You as You deserve:   
   to give and not count the cost,   
   to fight and not heed the wound,   
   to toil and not seek rest,   
   to labor and not seek reward,   
   save that of feeling that I do Your will. - Amen.   
      
   --Saint Ignatius of Loyola   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)