From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Love is sufficient of itself   
      
   Love is sufficient of itself; it gives pleasure by itself and because   
   of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no   
   cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the   
   practice. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul,   
   love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator   
   and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For   
   when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. The sole   
   purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who   
   love him are made happy by their love of him.   
   --from a sermon by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux   
      
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   26 March – Saint Braulio   
   (also known as Saint Braulius)   
   (590-651)   
      
   Bishop of Saragossa, Monk, Confessor, Reformer, Scholar, Advisor,   
   Writer, eloquent Preacher, Apostle of Charity. Saint Braulio was   
   friend and disciple to Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) Doctor of   
   the Church (feast celebrated 4 April) and a prolific writer of   
   letters, hymns, martyrology, hagiographies, and history. He fought   
   against heresy and provided both strength and encouragement in the   
   faith to his congregation.   
      
   St Isidore recognised the young nobleman Braulio as an outstanding   
   graduate of his college at Seville in Spain and took him under his   
   wing. He made Braulio his colleague, a peer to whom he submitted his   
   books for editing. Isidore ordained him and appointed him bishop of   
   Saragossa in 631.   
      
   St Braulio maintained the pattern of life he had learned earlier as a   
   monk. He lived simply, dressed in rough clothes, ate sparingly and   
   gave alms generously. He collaborated with Isidore in completing the   
   conversion of the Visigoths from Arianism and in renewing church order   
   in Spain.   
      
   Forty-four of Braulio’s letters that have survived give us a good   
   picture of the saint and his ministry.  He counseled priests on   
   liturgical and pastoral questions. Sometimes he discussed complex   
   theological matters like the resurrection of the body. Often he   
   consoled relatives and friends on the death of loved ones. In his most   
   famous letter he defended the Spanish bishops to Pope Honorius I, who   
   had accused them of laxity. Braulio’s sense of humour bursts forth in   
   letters requesting manuscripts, teasing friends who failed to visit   
   and lightly reprimanding an arrogant young priest who was to succeed   
   him.   
      
   Braulio is remembered as an eloquent preacher. We can almost hear the   
   power of his voice in this letter to his brother Frominian, who wanted   
   to resign his office as abbot:   
      
   I am shocked that you are so upset by all these routine scandals that   
   you prefer to spend your life in silence rather than to stay in the   
   duties entrusted to you. Where will your blessed perseverance be if   
   your patience fails?  Remember the apostle who said: “All who want to   
   live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (see 2 Timothy   
   3:12). Endurance exists not only in confessing the name of Christ by   
   sword and fire and various punishments. But differences in customs,   
   insults of the disobedient and barbs of wicked tongues and various   
   temptations are also included in this kind of persecution. There is   
   not a single occupation that is without its dangers…Who will guard   
   against wolves if the shepherd does not watch? Or who will drive away   
   the robber if the watchman sleeps? You must stick by the work   
   entrusted to you and the task you have undertaken. You must hate the   
   sins, not the people. Even though tribulation brings us more than we   
   can endure, let us not be afraid as if we were resisting with our own   
   strength. We must pray with the apostle that God give us “the way out   
   with the temptation” (see 1 Corinthians 10–13)…   
      
   He prepared a list of the works of St Isidore and reportedly completed   
   some of his master’s unfinished works. St Braulio went partially blind   
   in 650 and died in the same year.  He was buried in what is now the   
   church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Saragossa. He was succeeded as   
   bishop of Zaragoza by Taius (Taio), who had been his pupil. Later his   
   remains were translated to La Seo Cathedral, Saragossa.   
      
   By Anastpaul 2018   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than He   
   Himself has used:--to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the   
   boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the names of His   
   nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and   
   above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of   
   perception, beyond the embrace of understanding.   
   --Saint Hilary of Poitiers on the Holy Trinity   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the   
   testimony: and they loved not their lives unto death. (Revelation   
   12:11) DRB   
      
      
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   Prayer to Mary, Health of the Sick   
      
   Mary, you always shine on our path   
   as a sign of salvation and of hope.   
   We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,   
   who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain,   
   keeping your faith firm.   
   You, Salvation of the Roman People,   
   know what we need,   
   and we are sure you will provide   
   so that, as in Cana of Galilee,   
   we may return to joy and to feasting   
   after this time of trial.   
   Help us, Mother of Divine Love,   
   to conform to the will of the Father   
   and to do as we are told by Jesus,   
   who has taken upon Himself our sufferings   
   and carried our sorrows   
   to lead us, through the Cross,   
   to the joy of the Resurrection.   
   Amen   
      
   Under your protection, we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God.   
   Do not disdain the entreaties of we, who are in trial   
   but deliver us from every danger,   
   O glorious and blessed Virgin.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)