From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The nature of love--giving to others for their sake   
      
   What is the nature of love? Love is the gift of giving oneself for the   
   good of others--it is wholly other oriented and directed to the   
   welfare and benefit of others. Love which is rooted in pleasing myself   
   is self-centered and possessive--it is a selfish love that takes from   
   others rather than gives to others. It is a stunted and disordered   
   love which leads to many hurtful and sinful desires--such as jealousy,   
   greed, envy, and lust. The root of all sin is disordered love and   
   pride which is fundamentally putting myself above God and my   
   neighbor--it is loving and serving self rather than God and neighbor.   
   True love, which is wholly directed and oriented to what is good   
   rather than evil, is rooted in God's truth and righteousness (moral   
   goodness).   
      
   Prayer:   
   "Lord Jesus, your love surpasses all. Flood my heart with your love   
   and increase my faith and hope in your promises. Help me to give   
   myself in generous service to others as you have so generously given   
   yourself to me."   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   June 19th - Saint Romuald, Abbott and Confessor   
    c-951-1027   
      
   THE history of any nation shows that a sustained period of   
   extravagance and prosperity is usually followed by depressions or   
   violent reforms of some kind.  Emperor Charlemagne (768-814) had   
   labored to build up the resources of a rich educational, religious,   
   and intellectual life for his people.  After his death, the cultural   
   ideals which he had promoted died quickly.  Ecclesiastical life began   
   to decline; religious men were treated as bores, and monasteries which   
   had always been centers of learning and religious thought were rapidly   
   decaying from within.  The reforms did come, but not without a   
   struggle.  Eventually, through the efforts of some few monks,   
   religious life again began to flourish.  One of the strictest reforms   
   of the tenth century was begun by Saint Romuald, founder of the   
   Camaldolese Order.   
      
   Romuald's religious life began when he saw his father kill a relative   
   in a duel.  Horrified by the murder, Romuald went to a monastery at   
   Classis, near Ravenna, to do penance for his father's crime.  Later he   
   joined the same monastery as a monk and was elected superior in 996.   
   Although he realized reform was needed to restore the monastic spirit,   
   he was powerless against the apathy of the monks who were enjoying   
   their undisciplined life.  After three years Romuald gave up his   
   efforts to improve the monastery and left it in order to pray and to   
   plan another reform.  For several years he wandered through the   
   countryside, living in various monasteries and preaching the spirit of   
   penance and prayer.  During that time he gathered only a few men who   
   were willing to live the monastic rule of Saint Benedict according to   
   its original demands.   
      
   A popular Italian legend relates that while looking for a site for a   
   new monastery, Romuald met the Count Maldolus who told the saint of a   
   dream in which he saw monks, clothed in white, ascending a ladder to   
   heaven.  After hearing of Romuald's plans, the count offered his land,   
   Campo Maldoli.  Out of gratitude, the monk named his new order   
   Camaldolese. The Camaldolese Order was the first to combine   
   successfully the apparently contradictory aspects of the hermitic life   
   of Eastern monks with the community life of Western monasticism.  Each   
   monk of this order has his own room in which he lives and prays alone,   
   joining the others only for community prayers.  Fasts are long and   
   hard: meat is never eaten, and every Friday a fast of bread and water   
   is kept.  During Lent, milk, cheese, eggs, and butter are forbidden.   
   Each monk has his own workshop and garden, where he labors alone while   
   maintaining union with the others for the upkeep of the community.   
   Probably because of the severity of the rule, the order has only about   
   two hundred members.  Two came to the U.S.A. in 1958 to start a   
   community.   
      
   Obviously, Camaldolese life was not meant for everyone; yet Romuald   
   saw clearly that extreme penance and mortification were the only   
   forceful answers to the moral corruption of the period.  His principle   
   of practicing "penance with a joyful heart" can be a guide to those   
   caught in the web of seemingly useless activity.  As history unfolds,   
   we see that the world still needs the example of those whose lives   
   constitute a powerful sermon of contemplation and recollection.   
      
   Saint Romuald, founder and abbot, died alone in his monastery of Val   
   Castro, Italy, in 1027.   
      
   This Version taken from:   
   http://www.geocities.com/barats2000/Feasts.html   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Nothing can be more dangerous than keeping wicked companions. They   
   communicate the infection of their vices to all who associate with   
   them.   
   --St. John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719 AD)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which   
   endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto   
   you: for him hath God the Father sealed."  (John 6:27)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Oratio Sancti Caietani (Prayer of St. Cajetan); 1480-1547.   
      
   Look down, O Lord, from Thy sanctuary, from Thy   
   dwelling in heaven on high, and behold this sacred Victim   
   which our great High Priest, Thy holy Son our Lord Jesus   
   Christ, offers up to Thee for the sins of His brethren and   
   be appeased despite the multitude of our transgressions.   
   Behold, the voice of the Blood of Jesus, our Brother, cries   
   to Thee from the cross. Give ear, O Lord. Be appeased, O   
   Lord. Hearken and do not delay for Thine own sake, O my   
   God; for Thy Name is invoked upon this city and upon   
   Thy people and deal with us according to Thy mercy.   
   Amen.   
      
   That Thou wouldst defend, pacify, keep, preserve, and   
   bless this city, we beseech Thee, hear us.    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)