From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God gives us his strength to resist sinful thoughts and desires   
      
       When Cain became jealous of his brother Abel, God warned him to   
   guard his own heart: "Sin is couching at the door; it's desire is for   
   you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:7). Cain unfortunately did not   
   take God's warning to heart. He allowed his jealousy to grow into   
   spite and hatred for his brother, and he began to look for an   
   opportunity to eliminate his brother all together. When jealously and   
   other sinful desires come knocking at the door of your heart, how do   
   you respond? Do you entertain them and allow them to overtake you?   
   Fortunately God does not leave us alone in our struggle with hurtful   
   desires and sinful tendencies. He gives us the grace and strength we   
   need to resist and overcome sin when it couches at the door of our   
   heart.   
      
   ==============   
   May 26th - St Desiderius, Bishop of Vienne, Martyr   
   Also known as Didier   
   Memorial   
       • 26 May   
       • 11 February on some calendars   
      
   d. 607   
   AT the time when Queen Brunhildis was exercising her baleful influence   
   over the courts of her grandsons Theodebert, king of Austrasia, and   
   Theodoric, king of Burgundy, the diocese of Vienne was administered by   
   a holy and learned bishop named Desiderius. He was one of the French   
   prelates to whom St Gregory the Great specially commended St Augustine   
   and his companion missionaries on their way to evangelize England.   
      
   The zeal of St Desiderius in enforcing clerical discipline, in   
   repressing simony, and in denouncing the profligacy of the court made   
   him many enemies, the chief of whom was Brunhildis herself. Attempts   
   were made to discredit him with the pope by accusing him of paganism   
   on the ground of his liking for reading the great Latin classics, but   
   St Gregory, after receiving his apologia, completely exonerated him.   
   Brunhildis then persuaded a servile council at Chalon to banish the   
   good bishop on charges trumped up by false witnesses. Recalled after   
   four years, St Desiderius found himself hampered in the exercise of   
   his duties by the governor of Vienne and other old opponents, but he   
   did not scruple boldly to rebuke King Theodoric for his shameless   
   wickedness. On the way home from the court he was set upon by three   
   hired men who, probably exceeding their orders, killed him, at the   
   place where now stands the town of Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne.   
      
   The passio, which was edited in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. ix   
   (1890), pp. 250-262, seems to be a trustworthy document and to be the   
   work of a contemporary. Another account attributed to Sisebut, the   
   Visigothic king, is also probably authentic, but tells us little. Both   
   are included by B. Krusch in his third volume of Scriptores Merov., in   
   MGH., pp. 620-648. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. i, pp.   
   207-208.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The devil does not bring sinners to hell with their eyes open: he   
   first blinds them with the malice of their own sins. Before we fall   
   into sin, the enemy labours to blind us, that we may not see the evil   
   we do and the ruin we bring upon ourselves by offending God. After we   
   commit sin, he seeks to make us dumb, that, through shame, we may   
   conceal our guilt in confession.   
   --St. Alphonsus Liguori   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the   
   promise is trustworthy.  Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a   
   response in love and good works." [Hebrews 10:23-24]   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Canticle Ephesians 1   
   God the Saviour   
      
   Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,   
   who has blessed us, in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in heaven.   
      
   In love, he chose us before the creation of the world,   
   to be holy and spotless in his sight.   
      
   He predestined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ,   
   simply because it pleased him to do so.   
      
   This he did for the praise of the glory of his grace,   
   of his free gift of us to his Beloved,   
   in whose blood we have gained redemption,   
   and the forgiveness of our sins.   
      
   This he did according to the riches of his grace,   
   which he gave us in abundance,   
   with all wisdom and discernment,   
   revealing to us the mysteries of his will,   
   because it pleased him to do so.   
      
   In this action he has planned, in the fulfilment of time,   
   to bring all things together in Christ,   
   from the heavens and from the earth.   
      
   Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,   
    as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,   
    world without end.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)