From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How Burdens must be Borne to win Eternal Life [II]   
      
   Labor with all your might. Work faithfully in My vineyard;(Matt. 20:7)   
   I myself will be your reward. (Gen. 15:1) Write, study, worship, be   
   penitent, keep silence and pray. Meet all your troubles like a man:   
   eternal life is worth all this and yet greater conflicts. Peace will   
   come at a time known only to the Lord. It will not be day or night as   
   we know it, (Rev. 22:5) but everlasting light, boundless glory,   
   abiding peace and sure rest. You will not say then, 'Who will free me   
   from this mortal body?; (Rom 7:4) nor cry, 'Alas, how long is my   
   exile!' (Ps. 120:5) for the power of death will be utterly broken,   
   (Isa. 25:8) and full salvation assured. No anxiety will remain, but   
   only blessed joy in the fair and lovely fellowship of the Saints.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 47   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   May 14th – St. Boniface of Tarsus (RM)   
      
   Died c. 307.   
      
    Saint Boniface was the chief steward of a beautiful, young and   
   socially ambitious Roman noblewoman, named Aglae. Several times she   
   entertained the entire city with public shows. Aglae held lascivious   
   plans for her steward. Although Boniface was an alcoholic and addicted   
   to debauchery, he also possessed virtues to a remarkable degree:   
   hospitality, liberality, and compassion. He was known to assist any   
   stranger in need and to wander the city streets at night seeking out   
   those whose miseries he could relieve.   
      
   After several years of working for Aglae, she, moved by Divine grace,   
   said to him, "You must realize how deeply mired we are in vice. We   
   have not considered that we must appear before God to give an account   
   of all our actions. I have heard it said that they who honor those   
   that suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ shall have a share in their   
   glory. In the East, the servants of Jesus Christ every day suffer   
   torments, and lay down their lives for His sake. Go there and bring me   
   the relics of some of those conquerors, that we may honor their   
   memories, and be saved by their assistance."   
      
   Before he left he told Aglae: "I won't fail to bring back with me the   
   relics of martyrs, if I find any; but what if my own body should be   
   brought to you for that of a martyr?" She reproved him for joking   
   about so serious a matter. Thus, Boniface traveled East to secure   
   relics for his mistress, a man renewed in spirit and finally convicted   
   in his faith. Sorrow for his past sins grew as he travelled, and so   
   did his acts of penance.   
      
   He went to Tarsus in Cilicia, where the persecution of Christians was   
   raging under governor Simplicius. Immediately upon arrival Boniface   
   left his horses in the charge of his servants and went to the court,   
   where he found Simplicius seated in his tribunal and many martyrs   
   suffering. One was hung by his feet over a fire, another racked, a   
   third being sawed apart, and another 17 suffering various cruel   
   tortures. Boniface boldly saluted these champions of Christ, "Great is   
   the God of the Christians, great is the God of the holy martyrs. I   
   beseech you, the servants of Jesus Christ, to pray for me, that I may   
   join with you in fighting against the devil."   
      
   This, of course, was considered an insult to the governor, who angrily   
   asked who he was. Boniface replied that he was a Christian, and that   
   having Jesus Christ for his master, he feared nothing the governor   
   could inflict to make him renounce that sacred name. With that the   
   enraged Simplicius ordered sharp reeds to be thrust under his nails   
   and boiling lead to be poured into his mouth. Boniface called upon   
   Jesus for assistance, then begged the prayers of the other martyrs,   
   who all joined in petitioning God for him. The people, disgusted by so   
   much cruelty, began to raise a tumult, and cried out, "Great is the   
   God of the Christians." Alarmed, Simplicius withdrew.   
      
   But the next day he ordered Boniface to be brought before him a second   
   time. The martyr appeared constant and undaunted. The judge commanded   
   that he be cast into a caldron of boiling pitch; but he came out   
   without receiving any hurt. Finally, Boniface was condemned to   
   beheading. After saying a short prayer for the pardon of his sins and   
   the conversion of his persecutors, he cheerfully presented his neck to   
   the executioner.   
      
   Meanwhile his servants had gone searching for him. They finally ran   
   into the jailer's brother who told them that a stranger had been   
   beheaded the day before for his faith in Christ. They identified   
   Boniface's dead body and head, and requested that they be allowed to   
   take them home. This was permitted upon payment of 500 pieces of gold.   
   They had the body embalmed and carried it back to Aglae, who met them   
   outside Rome with priests, candles, and perfume in order to give him a   
   Christian burial. Later she built a chapel on the site of his tomb.   
   From that time Aglae led a secluded, penitential life and, dying   
   15 years after, was buried near the relics of Boniface.   
      
   The body and head of Boniface were found in Rome in 1603. His relics   
   are enshrined under the high altar in the church of SS. Alexius and   
   Boniface on the Aventine, formerly called Saint Boniface. These acta   
   are not entirely reliable; they are not contemporary sources   
   (Benedictines, Husenbeth).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let us throw ourselves into the arms of God, and be sure that if He   
   wishes to accomplish anything by us, He will qualify us for all He   
   desires us to do for Him. When the soul lies resignedly in the hands   
   of God, and is contented with the Divine pleasure, she is in good   
   hands, and has the best security that good will happen to her. Entire   
   conformity and resignation to the Divine will is truly a road on which   
   we cannot go wrong, and it is the only road which leads us to taste   
   and enjoy that peace which sensual and earthly men know nothing of.   
   -- St. Philip Neri   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is   
   not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to   
   forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If   
   we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is   
   not in us.  [1 John 1:8-10]   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   O Sacred Banquet   
   (O Sacrum Convivium)   
      
   O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is   
   renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is   
   given to us.   
      
   V. Thou didst give them bread from heaven:   
   R. Containing in itself all sweetness.   
      
   Let us pray.   
   O God, who under a wonderful Sacrament hast left us a memorial of Thy   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)