From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   We Must Walk Before God In Humility and Truth  (II)   
      
    CHRIST.   
    I will teach you, says the Truth, what is pleasing to Me. Remember   
   your sins with deep sorrow and displeasure, and never think yourself   
   to be anything because of your good deeds. Remember that you are a   
   sinner, entangled and enchained by many passions. Of yourself, you   
   always tend to nothing; you quickly fail, and are overcome; you are   
   soon disturbed and overthrown. You have nothing of which to boast, but   
   many things of which to be ashamed, for you are much weaker than you   
   realize.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 4   
      
   ===============   
   November 29th - John of Monte Corvino   
   (1247-1328)   
      
   At a time when the Church was heavily embroiled in nationalistic   
   rivalries within Europe, it was also reaching across Asia to spread   
   the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Mongols. John of Monte Corvino went   
   to China about the same time Marco Polo was returning.   
      
   John was a soldier, judge and doctor before he became a friar. Prior   
   to going to Tabriz, Persia (present-day Iran), in 1278, he was well   
   known for his preaching and teaching. In 1291 he left Tabriz as a   
   legate of Pope Nicholas IV to the court of Kublai Khan. John, an   
   Italian merchant and a Dominican friar traveled to western India,   
   where the Dominican died. When John and the Italian merchant arrived   
   in China in 1294, Kublai Khan had recently died.   
      
   Nestorian Christians, successors to the dissidents of the   
   fifth-century Council of Ephesus’ teaching on Jesus Christ, had been   
   in China since the seventh century. John converted some of them and   
   also some of the Chinese, including Prince George from Tenduk,   
   northwest of Beijing. Prince George named his son after this holy   
   friar.   
      
   John established his headquarters in Khanbalik (now Beijing), where he   
   built two churches; his was the first resident Catholic mission in the   
   country. By 1304 he had translated the Psalms and the New Testament   
   into the Tatar language.   
      
   Responding to two letters from John, Pope Clement V named John   
   Archbishop of Khanbalik in 1307 and consecrated seven friars as   
   bishops of neighboring dioceses. One of the seven never left Europe.   
   Three others died along the way to China; the remaining three bishops   
   and the friars who accompanied them arrived there in 1308.   
      
   When John died in 1328, he was mourned by Christians and   
   non-Christians. His tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage. In   
   1368, Christianity was banished from China when the Mongols were   
   expelled and the Ming dynasty began. John’s cause has been introduced   
   in Rome.   
      
   Comment:   
   When John of Monte Corvino went to China, he represented the Church’s   
   desire to preach the gospel to a new culture and to be enriched by it.   
   The travels of Pope John Paul II have demonstrated the universality of   
   the Good News and the urgent need to continue the challenging work of   
   helping the Good News take root in a variety of cultural situations.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, The face thereof was   
   covered with nettles, And the stone wall thereof was broken down.   
   Then I beheld, and considered well; I saw, and received instruction:   
   Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep;   
   So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.   
   [Pro 24:30-34]   
      
   "Scripture says that God resists the arrogant but gives grace to the   
   humble. We should associate with those to whom God's grace has been   
   given."   
    St. Clement, Bishop of Rome [m. 96?100 AD] Letter to the Corinthians I.30.2-3   
      
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   How to help the Holy Souls in Purgatory   
      
   We should make it our practice to offer each day some special prayer   
   or work for the Holy Souls. We may not do much, but by constancy in   
   laboring on their behalf we shall gradually accumulate a treasure for   
   their benefit. We should never miss saying a de Profundis for them   
   every night, and we should offer up Holy Communion for them from time   
   to time. In our morning oblation, we should pray that God may accept   
   our labors, our sufferings, our penances for them.   
      
   We should also be careful to say as many Indulgenced Prayers as we can   
   for them. Every prayer offered for them benefits them; every   
   Indulgenced Prayer has a double efficacy. It has a satisfactory value   
   in itself, and has a further power to obtain relief for them by reason   
   of the Indulgence attached to it. In this way how much we may do for   
   the Holy Souls!   
      
   There are some whom God inspires to make what is called the Heroic   
   Act, by which they offer up the satisfaction of all their works, of   
   the prayers and Masses said for them, and the Indulgences gained for   
   them after their own death, to be bestowed on the Holy Souls according   
   to our Lady's pleasure. This supreme act of self-sacrifice is indeed   
   heroic, for it includes a willingness to remain in Purgatory as long   
   as God shall please for the sake of helping others. What a great   
   reward this will obtain in Heaven! What gratitude it will earn from   
   the Holy Souls! Think how many souls need your help.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)