From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    -- 1 Peter 2:2-3 –    
      
   2 Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you   
   may grow up to salvation; 3 for you have tasted the kindness of the   
   Lord.   RSVCE   
   ======================   
   One characteristic all children share is that they want to grow up —   
   to be like big brother or big sister or like their parents. When we   
   are born again, we become spiritual newborn babies. If we are healthy,   
   we will yearn to grow. How sad it is that some people never grow up.   
   The need for milk is a natural instinct for a baby, and it signals the   
   desire or nourishment that will lead to growth. Once we see our need   
   for God's Word and begin to find nourishment in Christ, our spiritual   
   appetite will increase, and we will start to mature. How strong is   
   your desire for God's Word?   
      
      
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   October 25th - Bl. Thaddaeus MacCarthy   
   (Also known as Tadhg MacCarthy, Taddeo Machar, White Martyr of Munster)   
      
   (1455-1492)   
      
   You can trace the Irish Clan MacCarthy back to the third century. They   
   were the royal family of Desmond, the lower half of Munster, the   
   southeast Irish province. It was Cormac MacCarthy, king and bishop   
   (died 1138), who built the famous chapel on the Rock of “Cashel of the   
   Kings.”   
      
   MacCarthys ruled over Desmond until 1395. After that, however, their   
   power was bitterly contested by the Anglo-Norman Fitzgeralds, who   
   represented British encroachment. Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was their   
   dominant leader during the late fifteenth century.   
      
   Thaddaeus MacCarthy, born in Cork, was educated by the Franciscans of   
   nearby Kilcrea Friary, and ordained a priest by the bishop of Cork,   
   William Roche. The young priest was in Rome in 1482 when Pope Sixtus   
   IV learned of the death of Domnal, Bishop of Ross. The pope, having   
   become acquainted with Thaddaeus and been impressed by him, named him   
   successor to Domnal, despite the fact that he had not yet reached the   
   canonical age for bishops. MacCarthy was consecrated in Rome.   
      
   Unfortunately, the pope, when he appointed MacCarthy, did not know the   
   full situation back in the diocese of Ross. Domnal, before his death,   
   had resigned his see to Odo, whom he delegated to go to Rome to report   
   on the resignation and Odo’s succession. When Thaddaeus got back to   
   Ireland, therefore, he found that Odo considered himself rightful   
   bishop of Ross. The death of Pope Sixtus only complicated the question   
   of which claimant really possessed the see.   
      
   MacCarthy was strongly supported by Bishop Edmund de Courcy, but the   
   Fitzgeralds stood firmly against Thaddaeus, and he had to take refuge   
   in a Cistercian monastery. It quickly became a political and cultural   
   battle between the native Irish and the Anglo-Normans. The latter   
   denounced Bishop Thaddaeus as an intruder; and the new pope, Innocent   
   VIII, taken in by them, excommunicated MacCarthy.   
      
   Bishop MacCarthy, to prevent continuing scandal, appealed to the pope   
   to investigate the case further. As a result, Pope Innocent found that   
   he had been misinformed by the Geraldines. He confirmed Odo as bishop   
   of Ross, but by way of recompense, appointed Thaddaeus bishop of Cork   
   and Cloyne, praising his merits.   
      
   Unfortunately, the Anglo-Normans rejected this Roman solution. When   
   Bishop MacCarthy returned to assume his duties at Cork and Cloyne, he   
   found that his enemies had gained control of the diocesan property.   
   For two years thereafter, the bishop went from village to village in   
   his diocesan territory trying to prove his rights by means of the   
   papal documents. Nobody would listen to him, so at length he wearily   
   returned to Rome.   
      
   On July 1, 1492, Pope Innocent VIII gave MacCarthy another document.   
   It sternly ordered Gerald, Earl of Kildare, and all others, to protect   
   the episcopal properties of the bishop of Cork and Coyne and to   
   acknowledge his right to those sees.   
      
   Bishop MacCarthy set out for Ireland once more. There was nothing   
   triumphant about his journey. He traveled north alone, on foot,   
   wearing no signs of his rank, but only the scallop-shell of the   
   pilgrim. That night the pilgrim retired early.   
      
   At dawn, the servants of the hostel, noting a light streaming from his   
   cell, investigated its cause. The weary churchman had died peacefully   
   during the night. Now the local bishop of Ivrea, who had dreamt he saw   
   a stranger bishop ascending into heaven, came over to investigate. In   
   the dead pilgrim’s wallet he found his episcopal cross and ring and   
   the papal document testifying to his rights as bishop of Cork and   
   Cloyne.   
      
   If the Irish Geraldines had spurned their bishop, the citizens of   
   Ivrea gave him an honorable burial among them. When miracles were   
   wrought at his tomb, they hailed him as “blessed,” and promptly   
   enshrined him in their cathedral, where his relics are still   
   venerated. In 1895, Pope Leo XIII confirmed the title “Blessed   
   Thaddaeus” long since given to him at Ivrea.   
      
   For many of us, life is one frustration after another. But if   
   frustration is our cross, and we bear it with patience and humility,   
   it can gain us heaven as well as any other mortal trial. That is how   
   blessed Thaddaeus MacCarthy won his crown.   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the   
   Mother of God fills with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother   
   of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our   
   Lord's disciples may not have used those exact words, but they   
   delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also   
   been taught us by the holy fathers.   
   -- Saint Cyril of Alexandria   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    We preach Christ crucified-to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the   
   Gentiles foolishness.  (I Cor. 1:23)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Act of Entrustment to St. Joseph   
      
   O dearest St. Joseph, I entrust myself to you that you may   
   always be my father, my protector and my guide in the way   
   of salvation. Obtain for me a greater purity of heart and   
   fervent love of the interior life. After your example may I do   
   all my actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the   
   Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.   
   O Blessed St. Joseph, pray for me, that I may share in the peace   
   and joy of your holy death. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)