From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Gratitude for God's Grace (II)   
      
   False liberty of mind and overweening self-confidence are a great   
   hindrance to heavenly visitations. God is generous in granting us the   
   grace of comfort; but man does ill in not returning all to God with   
   gratitude. This is why His gifts of grace cannot flow freely in us,   
   because we are ungrateful to the Giver, and do not return them to   
   their Fount and Source. God will always give grace to those who are   
   grateful, but what He grants to the humble is withheld from the proud.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 2 Ch 10   
      
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   November 29th - St. Radbod, Bishop of Utrecht   
   d. 918   
      
   RADBOD, the last pagan king of the Frisians (who said he preferred to   
   be in Hell with his ancestors rather than in Heaven without them), was   
   great-grandfather of this saint, whose father was a Frank. The young   
   Radbod received his first schooling under the tuition of Gunther,   
   Bishop of Cologne, his maternal uncle.   
      
   Little is known of St. Radbod’s life, but he wrote hymns and an office   
   of St. Martin, an eclogue and sermon on St. Lebwin, a hymn on St.   
   Swithbert and other poems which are extant. In a short chronicle,   
   which he compiled, he says, under the year 900, “I, Radbod, a sinner,   
   have been taken, though unworthy, into the company of the ministers of   
   the church of Utrecht; with whom I pray that I may attain to eternal   
   life”. Before the end of that year he was chosen bishop of that   
   church, when he put on the monastic habit, his predecessors having   
   been monks because priests of the monastic order had founded the   
   church of Utrecht.   
      
   After he had received the episcopal consecration he never tasted flesh   
   meat, often fasted two or three days together, and was renowned for   
   his kindness to the poor. During a Danish invasion St. Radbod removed   
   his see to Deventer, and there died in peace.   
      
   There is a medieval Life of St. Radbod, written not long after his   
   death, but it is a poor piece of biography. It is edited in MGH.,   
   Scriptures, vol. xv, pp. 569-571 and has also been printed with   
   Radbod’s literary works in Migne, PL., vol. cxxxii. A better edition   
   of his verse compositions is in MGH., Poetae latini, vol. Iv, pp.   
   160-173. Te   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Our self will is so subtle and so deeply rooted within us, so covered   
   with excuses and defended by false reasoning, that it seems to be a   
   demon. When we cannot do our own will in one way, we do it in another,   
   under all kinds of pretexts.   
   --St. Catherine of Genoa   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Then I heard what seemed to be the voice   
    of a great multitude crying out, “Hallelujah!”   
    For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.   
    Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,   
    for the marriage of the Lamb has come,   
    and his bride has made herself ready;   
    to her it has been granted to be clothed   
    with fine linen, bright and pure.  [Rev. 19:6–8]   
      
      
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   The Elder Brother’s Prayer   
      
   Teach me, my Lord,   
   to be sweet and gentle in all the events of life,   
   in disappointments,   
   in the thoughtlessness of those I trusted,   
   in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.   
   Let me put myself aside,   
   to think of the happiness of others,   
   to hide my little pains and heartaches,   
   so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.   
   Teach me to profit by the suffering   
   that comes across my path.   
   Let me so use it that it may make me   
   patient, not irritable.   
   That it may make me broad in my forgiveness,   
   not narrow, haughty and overbearing.   
   May no-one be less good   
   for having come within my influence.   
   No-one less pure, less true, less kind,   
   less noble for having been a fellow traveller   
   in my journey toward Eternal Life.   
   As I go my rounds from one distraction to another,   
   let me whisper from time to time,   
   a word of love to Thee.   
   May my life be lived in the supernatural,   
   full of power for good,   
   and strong in its purpose of sanctity.    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)