From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Humility is the only soil where God's grace and truth can take root   
      
   Jesus contrasts intellectual pride with child-like simplicity and   
   humility. The simple of heart are like "babes" or "little children" in   
   the sense that they see purely without pretense or falsehood and   
   acknowledge their dependence and trust in one who is greater, wiser,   
   and more trustworthy. They seek one thing--the "summum bonum" or   
   "greatest good" who is God himself. Simplicity of heart is wedded with   
   humility, the queen of virtues, because humility inclines the heart   
   towards grace and truth.   
      
   Just as pride is the root of every sin and evil inclination, so   
   humility is the only soil in which the grace of God can take root. It   
   alone takes the right attitude before God and allows him as God to do   
   all. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs   
   3:34, James 4:6). The grace of Christ-like humility inclines us   
   towards God and disposes us to receive God's wisdom and help. Allow   
   the Lord Jesus to heal the wounds of pride in your heart and to fill   
   you with the joy of the Holy Spirit who transforms us into the   
   likeness of Christ himself--who is meek and humble of heart (Matthew   
   11:29).   
      
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   17 December – Saint Sturmi of Fulda   
      
    (c 705-779)   
    Priest, Monk and Abbot, Missionary, disciple of Saint Boniface and   
   Founder and first Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery and Abbey of   
   Fulda. Sturmi’s tenure as Abbot lasted from 747 until 779. Also known   
   as Apostle of the Saxons, Apostle of Germany, Sturm, Sturmius.   
      
   Sturmi was born c 705 in Lorch, Austria and was most likely related to   
   the Agilolfing Dukes of Bavaria. He met Saint Boniface when the latter   
   was carrying out the church reorganisation in Bavaria and Austria   
   (founding the Bishoprics of Salzburg, Regensburg and Würzburg). He   
   joined Boniface and was educated in the Benedictine monastery of   
   Fritzlar by Abbot Saint Wigbert. He was then active as a Missionary in   
   northern Hesse, where in 736 he established a monastic settlement in   
   Haerulfisfeld (Hersfeld).   
      
   Sturmi was Ordained in 740 as Priest in Fritzlar. In 744 he was   
   instructed by St Boniface in 744 to establish a Monastery in the   
   region of Eichloha, which had been granted to Boniface by the Frankish   
   Mayor of the Palace Carloman. He established the Monastery in the   
   ruins of a 6th-century Merovingian royal camp, destroyed 50 years   
   earlier by the Saxons, at a ford on the Fulda River.   
      
   Following studies at St Benedict’s Monastery in Monte Cassino in   
   747–748, Sturmi was named first Abbot of the Fulda Monastery by St   
   Boniface. In 751, St Boniface and his disciple and successor Lullus,   
   obtained an exemption for Fulda, having it placed directly under the   
   Papal See and making it independent of interference by Bishops or   
   worldly princes.   
      
   After the death of St Boniface, this exemption led to serious   
   conflicts between Lullus, then Archbishop of Mainz and Abbot Sturmi.   
   Nevertheless, Sturmi prevailed over the Bishops of Mainz and Utrecht   
   in having Boniface, buried in Fulda after his Martyrdom in 754. This   
   made Fulda a major place of pilgrimage for many peoples, including   
   Anglo-Saxons and brought much prestige and a stream of gifts and   
   donations to Fulda.   
      
   Building on this success, Sturmi was able to fend off efforts by the   
   Bishops of Mainz and Würzburg to invalidate the Abbey’s exemption. He   
   was sent into exile from 763 to 765 at Jumièges (Normandy) but was   
   rehabilitated in 765 by Pippin the Younger. In 774, the Abbey of Fulda   
   received Royal protection from Charlemagne. In the same year, Fulda   
   was assigned missionary territories in heathen Saxony. Sturmi later   
   established the Abbey of St Boniface at Hamelin. In 779, he   
   accompanied Charlemagne into Saxony but fell ill and died soon after   
   returning to Fulda on 17 December 779, where he was buried in the   
   Cathedral.   
      
   Sturmi was recognised as a Saint prior to the East–West Schism in   
   1054, hence the Orthodox Church continues to honour him. He was   
   formally Canonised in 1139 by Pope Innocent II. His life was recorded   
   in the Vita Sturmi by the fourth Abbot of Fulda, Eigil of Fulda (died   
   822[1]), a relative of his, who had been a Monk in Fulda for over 20   
   years under Abbot Sturmi.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/17/   
      
      
   “He came from heaven   
   to suffer and die for us,   
   so that we might love Him.   
   How can we remain ungrateful?”   
   --St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)   
      
   “A soul united to Jesus,   
   is a living smile   
   that radiates Him   
   and, gives Him.”   
   --St Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)   
      
   Bible quote:   
   And answering, he said to them: Go and relate to John what you have   
   heard and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made   
   clean, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, to the poor the gospel is   
   preached:  And blessed is he whosoever shall not be scandalized in me.   
   (Luke 7:22-23)   
      
      
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   God is good   
      
    God is good. You can often tell whether or not a thing is of God. If   
   it is of God, it must be good. Honesty, purity, unselfishness, and   
   love are all good, unselfish helpfulness is good, and these things all   
   lead to the abundant life. Leave in God's hands the present and the   
   future, knowing only that He is good. The hand that veils the future   
   is the hand of God. He can bring order out of chaos, good out of evil,   
   and peace out of turmoil. We can believe that everything really good   
   comes from God and that He shares His goodness with us. I pray that I   
   may reach out for the good. I pray that I may try to choose the best   
   in life.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)