From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   I must work for God   
      
      I must work for God, with God, and through God's help. By helping   
   to bring about a true fellowship of human beings, I am working for   
   God. I am also working with God because this is the way God works, and   
   He is with me when I am doing such work. I cannot do good work,   
   however, without God's help. In the final analysis, it is through the   
   grace of God that any real change in human personality takes place. I   
   have to rely on God's power, and anything I accomplish is through His   
   help.   
      I pray that I may work for God and with God. I pray that I may be   
   used to change human personalities through God's help.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   April 1st - St. Walaricus. Abbot   
   (Also known as Valery)   
      
   St. Walaricus or Valery, whose body William the Conqueror caused to be   
   publicly exposed that the saint might obtain a favourable wind for his   
   English expedition, was born in a humble home in the Auvergne. Somehow   
   he learned to read, and he is said to have procured a psalter, the   
   contents of which he committed to memory while tending sheep. His   
   uncle one day took him to visit the monastery of Autumo, but when the   
   time came for returning, the boy insisted upon staying behind; so   
   there he was allowed to remain and to continue his education, though   
   it is doubtful whether he ever took the habit there. Some years later   
   he left to enter the abbey of St. Germanus near Auxerre, but his   
   sojourn does not seem to have been a protracted one. It was not   
   unusual in those days for monks voluntarily to go from one monastery   
   to another; some indeed were vagrants by nature who could never settle   
   anywhere, but many of them were men striving after perfection, who   
   were only eager to find a director capable of assisting them to attain   
   their goal. Of this number was Walaricus.   
      
   The renown of St. Columban and of the life led by his followers at   
   Luxeuil determined him to seek out the great Irishman and to place   
   himself under his rule. With him went his friend Bobo, a nobleman who   
   had been converted by him and who had abandoned his possessions to   
   join him. At Luxeuil, where they found the leader and the spiritual   
   life they sought, they settled down happily. To Walaricus fell the   
   duty of cultivating part of the garden. The flourishing condition of   
   his allotment, when the rest of the estate was being devoured by   
   insects, was regarded as miraculous, and is said to have induced St.   
   Columban, who already had a high opinion of him, to profess him after   
   an unusually short novitiate.   
      
   When King Theodoric expelled the abbot from his monastery, allowing   
   only the Irish and the Bretons to accompany him, Walaricus, not   
   wishing to remain on at Luxeuil without St. Columban, obtained leave   
   to join a monk called Waldolanus, who was about to start on a mission   
   of evangelization. Receiving permission to settle in Neustria, they   
   preached freely to the people, and Walaricus’s eloquence and miracles   
   gained many converts. It was not long, however, before he began to   
   feel again the call to retire from the world, but this time he thought   
   it his vocation to be a hermit. By the advice of Bishop Berchundus he   
   chose a solitary spot near the sea, at the mouth of the river Somme,   
   where he proposed to live in solitude; but he could not remain hidden.   
   Disciples discovered him and cells sprang up around, which developed   
   into the celebrated abbey of Leuconaus. St. Walaricus would   
   occasionally issue forth to preach missions in the countryside, and so   
   successful were his efforts that he is said to have evangelized not   
   only what is now known as the Pas-de-Calais, but the whole eastern   
   shore of the English Channel.   
      
   Tall and ascetic-looking, the holy man was noted for his singular   
   gentleness which tempered the stern Rule of St. Columban with   
   excellent results. Animals were attracted to him: birds perched on his   
   shoulders and ate from his hand, and often the good abbot would gently   
   warn off an intruding visitor with the words, “Do let these innocent   
   creatures eat their meal in peace”.   
      
   After ruling his monastery for six years or more, St. Walaricus passed   
   to his rest about the year 620. Numerous miracles reported after his   
   death quickly spread his cultus, at least two French towns,   
   St.-Valery-sur-Somme and St.-Valery-en-Caux, being named after him.   
   King Richard Coeur-de-Lion transferred his relics to the latter town,   
   which is in Normandy, but they were afterwards restored to   
   St.-Valéry-sur-Somme, on the site of the abbey of Leuconaus.   
      
   We are told that a life of St. Walaricus was written by Raginbertus,   
   who became abbot of Leuconaus not long after the death of the saint.   
   It was formerly believed that this document was preserved in substance   
   by a later writer, who re-edited it in a new setting and in a more   
   correct style. Bruno Krusch, however, seems to have proved that this   
   later life dates only from the 11th century and is a fabrication which   
   borrows freely from other hagiographical materials which have nothing   
   to do with St. Walaricus. See MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. iv, pp.   
   157-175; where a more critical text than that of the Bollandists and   
   Mabillon may also be found. For some criticisms of B. Krusch’s edition   
   see Wattenbach-Levison, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter   
   Vorzeit und Karolinger, vol. I (1952).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   He who always acts under obedience may be assured that he will not   
   have to give an account of his actions to God.   
   --St. Philip   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that   
   the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. 29 Now there was a   
   vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of   
   vinegar and hyssop, put it to his mouth. 30 Jesus therefore, when he   
   had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head,   
   he gave up the ghost.  (John 18:28-30)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The festival of victory   
      
      The festival we celebrate is one of victory--the victory of the Son   
   of God, king of the whole universe. On this day the devil is defeated   
   by the crucified one; our race is filled with joy by the risen one. In   
   honor of my resurrection in Christ this day cries out: "In my journey   
   I beheld a new wonder--an open tomb, a man risen from the dead, bones   
   exulting, souls rejoicing, men and women refashioned, the heavens   
   opened, and powers crying out: Lift up your gates, you princes; be   
   lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the king of glory may come in.   
   On this day I saw the king of heaven, robed in light, ascend above the   
   lightning and the rays of the sun, above the sun and the sources of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)