From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Prepare for Lent   
      
      We are soon to celebrate the passion of our crucified Lord. It is   
   therefore in keeping with our commitment to him that we should crucify   
   ourselves by restraining the desires of the flesh. As the apostle   
   says: You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all your   
   self-indulgent passions and desires. Such is the cross upon which we   
   Christians must continually hang, since our whole lives are beset by   
   trials and temptations. Not for us, as long as we live, to be rid of   
   those nails we read of in the psalm: Pierce my flesh with the nails of   
   your fear. Flesh means the desires of our lower nature; nails, the   
   demands of God's justice and holiness. With these the fear of the Lord   
   pierces our flesh and fastens us to the cross as an acceptable   
   sacrifice to him. In a similar passage the apostle Paul appeals to us   
   by the mercy of God to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy   
   and acceptable to God.   
   --Augustine of Hippo   
      
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   February 13th - Saint Benignus of Dijon   
   in French, Saint Bénigne   
      
   3rd century   
   Benignus was a martyr honored as the patron saint and first herald of   
   Christianity of Dijon (Divio), an old city in the territory of the   
   Gallic tribe of the Lingones (civitas Lingonum, Langres). It is an   
   historical fact that Benignus suffered martyrdom in a persecution of   
   the 3rd century and was publicly honored as a martyr. His feast falls   
   on November 1; his name stands under this date in the so-called   
   Martyrology of St. Jerome (ed. Rossi-Duchesne; cf. Acta SS., November,   
   I1, 138).   
      
   Early in the 6th century no particulars concerning the person and life   
   of Benignus were known at Dijon. He may have been a missionary priest   
   from Lyon, martyred at Epagny under Aurelian, near Dijon, in the late   
   2nd century.[1]   
      
   According to Gregory of Tours the common people reverenced his grave;   
   but Bishop Saint Gregory of Langres (507 or 507-539 or 540) wished to   
   put an end to this veneration, because he believed the grave to belong   
   to a heathen. Having learned in a vision at night that the burial spot   
   (once a large Roman cemetery) was that of the holy martyr Benignus, he   
   had the tomb in which the sarcophagus lay restored, and he build a   
   basilica over it. A larger church was built by its abbot William of   
   Volpiano for his Cluniac monastery at the site. Benignus' church and   
   tomb have survived an earthquake in 1280 and the French Revolution.   
   His sarcophagus can still be seen in the crypt under the cathedral at   
   Dijon.   
      
   About this date there was a sudden appearance of Acts of the martyrdom   
   of the saint, which were brought to Dijon by a pilgrim on the way to   
   Italy (Gregor. Tur., De gloriâ martyrum, I, li; Migne P.L., LXXI,   
   752). These accounts have no historical basis; according to them St.   
   Polycarp of Smyrna had sent Benignus as a missionary to Dijon, where   
   he had labored as a priest and had finally died a martyr. For some   
   unknown reason his death is placed in the persecution under Aurelian   
   (270-275). The author had not noticed that the sending by Polycarp and   
   the martyrdom under Aurelian are chronologically irreconcilable. Louis   
   Duchesne has proved that these "Acts" belong to a whole group of   
   legends which arose in the early years of the sixth century and were   
   intended to describe the beginnings of Christianity in the cities of   
   that region (Besançon, Autun, Langres, Valence). They are all   
   falsifications by the same hand and possess no historical value.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "To fast is not a natural cause of sadness except for those who are   
   yet too feebly disposed; for those who desire to contemplate wisdom,   
   fasting is a delight. As long as the disciples were weak, it was wiser   
   to wait until they became stronger. This shows that it was not an   
   invitation to gluttony but a recognition of their weakness."   
   --St. John Chrysostom (Doctor, 347-407) - "An Aquinas Reader",   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "And Jesus said to them: Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as   
   long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the   
   bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast"   
   (Matt 9:15)   
      
   "But in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God,   
   in much patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, In   
   stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labours, in watchings, in   
   fastings"  (2 Corinthians 6:4-5)   
      
      
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   I Return to You   
   (Act of Supplication and Contrition to the Holy Trinity)   
      
   Father of mercy,   
   like the prodigal son,   
   I return to You and say:   
   “I have sinned against You   
   and am no longer worthy   
   to be called Your Son.”   
   Christ Jesus,   
   Saviour of the World,   
   I pray with the repentant thief   
   to whom You promised paradise –   
   “Lord, remember me in Your Kingdom.”   
   Holy Spirit, fountain of love,   
   I call on You with trust,   
   “Purify my heart   
   and help me to walk   
   as a child of light.”   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)