From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Enduring Injuries and the Proof of Patience   
      
   CHRIST:   
   Always be ready for battle if you wish for victory; you cannot win the   
   crown of patience without a struggle;( 2 Tim. 2:3) if you refuse to   
   suffer, you refuse the crown. Therefore, if you desire the crown,   
   fight manfully and endure patiently. Without labour, no rest is won;   
   without battle, there can be no victory.   
      
   THE DISCIPLE:   
    Lord, make possible for me by grace what is impossible to me by   
   nature. You know how little I can bear, and how quickly I become   
   discouraged by a little adversity. I pray You, make every trial lovely   
   and desirable to me for Your Name's sake, since suffering and   
   affliction for Your sake is so profitable to the health of my soul.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 19   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 2nd - Saint Otto   
      
   Bishop of Bamberg, born about 1060; died 30 June 1139. He belonged to   
   the noble, though not wealthy, family of Mistelbach in Swabia, not to   
   the Counts of Andechs. He was ordained priest, but where he was   
   educated is not known. While still young he joined the household of   
   Duke Wladislaw of Poland; in 1090 he entered the service of Emperor   
   Henry IV, and about 1101 was made chancellor. In 1102 the emperor   
   appointed and invested him as Bishop of Bamberg. In the conflict of   
   investitures he sided chiefly in political matters with Henry IV,   
   although he avoided taking sides openly. He refused to be consecrated   
   by a schismatic bishop. Through ambassadors he declared his loyalty to   
   the Holy See. In 1105 he joined the party of Henry V, went to Rome,   
   and there on 13 May 1106, was consecrated bishop. He never became a   
   partisan. In 1110-1111 he accompanied Henry on his journey to Rome,   
   but, like other noble characters, he disapproved of the disgraceful   
   treatment of Pope Paschal. This is clear from the fact that he   
   received the pallium from the pope on 15 April 1111.   
      
    When the war broke out again, he did not desert Henry V, and in   
   consequence was suspended by the papal party at the Synod in Fritzlar   
   in 1118. At the Congress of Würzburg in 1121 he strove hard for peace,   
   which was concluded in 1122 at Worms. Meanwhile he had devoted himself   
   entirely to his diocese and as bishop had led a model, simple, and   
   even a poor life. He increased the possessions of the Church by new   
   acquisitions, recovered alienated dependencies, completed the   
   cathedral, improved the cathedral school, built castles and churches.   
   In particular he favoured the monks, and founded over 20 monasteries   
   in the Dioceses of Bamberg, Würzburg, Ratisbon, Passau, Eichstatt,   
   Halberstadt and Aquileia. He reformed other monasteries. Thus he   
   merited the name of "Father of the Monks".   
      
       His greatest service was his missionary work among the   
   Pomeranians. In the Peace with Poland in 1120 the latter had engaged   
   to adopt Christianity. Attempts to convert them through Polish priests   
   and through an Italian Bishop, Bernard, proved futile. Duke Boleslaus   
   III then appealed to Otto, and it is due to Otto that the undertaking   
   partook of a German character. Through an understanding with the pope,   
   who appointed him legate, the emperor and the princes, he started in   
   May 1124, and travelled through Prague, Breslau, Posen, and Gnesen in   
   East Pomerania, was received by the duke with great respect, and won   
   over the people through his quiet yet firm attitude, his magnificent   
   appearance, generous donations, and gentle, inspiring sermons. He   
   converted Pyritz, Kammin, Stettin, Julin, and in 9 places established   
   11 churches; 22,165 persons were baptized. In 1125 he returned to   
   Bamberg. As heathen customs began to assert themselves again, he once   
   more journeyed to Pomerania through Magdeburg and Havelberg about the   
   year 1128. In the Diet of Usedom he gained over through his inspiring   
   discourses all the nobles of the land to Christendom. He then   
   converted new communities, and led back those who had fallen away.   
   Even after his return (in the same year) he was in constant   
   communication with the Pomeranians and sent them priests from Bamberg.   
   His wish to consecrate a bishop for Pomerania was not fulfilled as the   
   Archbishops of Magdeburg and Gnesen claimed the metropolitan rights.   
      
   Only in 1140 was his former companion Adalbert confirmed as Bishop of   
   Julin. In 1188 the bishopric was removed to Hammin and made directly   
   subject to the Holy See. In Bamberg he once more gave himself up to   
   his duties as bishop and prince and performed them with great zeal. He   
   kept out of all political turmoil. In the papal schism of 1130-1131 he   
   tried to remain neutral. The active, pious, clever bishop was greatly   
   esteemed by the other princes and by Emperor Lothair. He was buried in   
   the monastery of Saint Michael in Bamberg. Bishop Embrice of Würzburg   
   delivered the funeral oration and applied to Otto the words of   
   Jeremiah: "The Lord called thy name, a plentiful olive tree, fair,   
   fruitful, and beautiful." On his mission journey he is reported to   
   have worked many miracles. Many happened also at his tomb. In 1189   
   Otto was canonized by Clement III.   
   --The Catholic Encyclopedia   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If we look forward to receiving God's mercy, we can never fail to do   
   good so long as we have the strength. For if we share with the poor,   
   out of love for God, whatever he has given to us, we shall receive   
   according to his promise a hundredfold in eternal happiness. What a   
   fine profit, what a blessed reward! With outstretched arms he begs us   
   to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants   
   of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors. Just as water   
   extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.   
   --Saint John of God   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Or did I commit a fault, humbling myself that you might be exalted,   
   because I preached unto you the Gospel of God freely? (2 Cor 11:7)   
   DRB   
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to Mary, and an triple invocation:   
      
   O dearest Lady, Sweet Mother mine, watch the hour   
   when my departing soul shall lose its hold on all earthly   
   things, and stand unveiled in the presence of its Creator.   
   Show thyself as my tender Mother then, and offer to the   
   Eternal Father the precious Blood of thy Son Jesus for my   
   poor soul, that it may, thus purified, be pleasing in His   
   sight.  Plead for thy poor child at the moment of his (or   
   her) departure from this world, and say to the Heavenly   
   Father: Receive him (or her) this day into Thy Kingdom!   
   Amen.   
      
   Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.   
   Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)