From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    -- Psalm 66:16-20 –    
      
   Come and listen, all you who fear God;   
   let me tell you what he has done for me.   
   I cried out to him with my mouth;   
   his praise was on my tongue.   
   If I had cherished sin in my heart,   
   the Lord would not have listened;   
   but God has surely listened   
   and heard my voice in prayer.   
   Praise be to God,   
   who has not rejected my prayer   
   or withheld his love from me!   
   =====================   
   God is always faithful. He is willing to give you what you need and to   
   bless you richly besides. But this is no something-for-nothing offer.   
   The Lord demands righteous living from His followers. Those who live   
   according to God's will can trust Him for anything they ask in His   
   Son's name. But the Lord will not overlook spiritual laziness to give   
   us what we want. We must approach Him in complete dependence on   
   Christ's merits. God responds because His Son sits at His right hand,   
   interceding for us. And we must approach Him in holiness, with an   
   attitude of confession and repentance, turning away from wrongdoing   
   before making requests.   
      
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   October 7th - St. Osith, Abbess   
   (Died c. 700)   
      
   According to tradition, Osith was the daughter of Frithuwold, the Mercian   
   sub-King of Surrey. Her mother was Wilburga, daughter of King Penda of   
   Mercia. The parents of Osith, with St. Erconwald, founded the   
   monastery of Chertsey (Surrey) in 675. She was born at Quarendon, near   
   Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire), and her childhood was spent in the care   
   of her maternal aunts, the two holy abbesses, St. Edith of Aylesbury   
   and St. Edburga of Bicester.   
      
   There is an old story that St. Edith sent Osith, one day, to take a   
   book to St. Modwenna at her nunnery, in order to point out to her a   
   particularly interesting passage she had discovered. To reach   
   Modwenna's house, Osith had to cross a stream by a bridge. As the   
   stream was swollen and the wind was high, she was blown into the water   
   and remained there for two days before she was discovered. Edith   
   thought she was safe with Modwenna who, not expecting her visit, was   
   not surprised at her non-appearance. On the third day, Edith,   
   wondering why her pupil had not returned with an answer to her   
   message, came to Modwenna. Great was the consternation of the abbesses   
   when they found they had lost their charge. They went to search for   
   her. Following the banks of the stream, they saw the child lying at   
   the bottom, holding the book open at the passage she had been told to   
   show to Modwenna. The abbesses prayed for her restoration, and   
   commanded her to arise from the water and come to them. This she did:   
   she, her dress and the book being quite uninjured. There is some   
   confusion over which Modwenna is meant here. The story seems to   
   indicate St. Modwenna of Burton-on-Trent, but this is impossible. The   
   lady in question is probably the little known St. Modwenna of   
   Northumbria.   
      
   After the death of St. Edith, Osith returned to her parents, who soon   
   accepted, on her behalf, an offer of marriage from Sighere, King of   
   Essex, who reigned jointly with Sebba. Sighere had relapsed into   
   heathenism, but promised to become a Christian on marrying Osith.   
   Osith's inclinations, however, had turned towards a religious life and   
   she would rather have been an abbess than a queen, having secretly   
   made a vow of celibacy. Her fate was decided for her though and she   
   was given to Sighere, whilst still praying that she might have no   
   husband but the Lord. On her marriage, she went with her husband,   
   probably to London, which was then the capital of Essex. On some   
   pretext or other, she declined, for several days, to receive the King   
   in her bower - a separate house for herself and her attendant ladies   
   within the enclosure of the Royal residence. At last, however, her   
   contrivances were exhausted and so was the King's patience. Her   
   seclusion came to a sudden end and her husband stood before her. Still   
   she prayed that she might keep her vow, but Sighere began to protest   
   that, without her, life held no happiness and no interest for him. But   
   even while he spoke, there was a sound of eager voices and hurrying   
   feet. Some of his lords cried, "The stag, the stag" and close to the   
   gate was the largest stag that ever was seen. Up sprang Sighere and,   
   with all his Court, started in pursuit. Osith regarded this   
   interruption as an answer to her prayers and took his departure as a   
   release from her engagement. She sent in all haste for Bishops Acca   
   and Bedwin and, when the King returned, after a chase of four or five   
   days, he found her a veiled nun. He generously gave her an estate at   
   Chich (St. Osiths) in Essex, and built her a church and a monastery,   
   where she soon gathered many holy nuns.   
      
   After many years, on 7th October around 700, the Danes made a raid on   
   the Essex coast. Their leader tried by threats and entreaties to make   
   Osith renounce her religion, but in vain and, incensed at his failure,   
   he cut off her head. As it fell to the earth, a fountain bubbled up   
   which, for many years afterwards, had a wonderful power of curing   
   diseases. Osith rose to her feet and carried her head in her hands to   
   the church, staining the door with blood as she opened it. Her family   
   claimed her body and it was buried for a while at Aylesbury Abbey; but   
   the saint intimated, by visions and other signs, that she chose to   
   rest in her own monastery. There, accordingly, she was eventually   
   placed in a rich shrine by Maurice, Bishop of London.   
      
   She is represented in art with a stag behind her and a long key   
   hanging from her girdle, or otherwise carrying a key and a sword   
   crossed, a device which commemorates St. Peter, St. Paul and St.   
   Andrew.   
      
   Edited from Agnes Dunbar's "A Dictionary of Saintly Women" (1904).   
   .   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to   
   abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His   
   grace to mold them accordingly.   
   --St. Ignatius Loyola   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   1 Praise the LORD.   
   I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,   
    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.   
   2 Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who have   
    pleasure in them.   
   3 Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness   
   endures for ever.   
   4 He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered;   
   the LORD is gracious and merciful.   
   5 He provides food for those who fear him;   
   he is ever mindful of his covenant.   
   6 He has shown his people the power of his works,   
   in giving them the heritage of the nations.  [Psalm 111:1-6]   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Humility and charity   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)