From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God's union with the beloved   
      
      Anyone who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. As God's   
   kindness is beyond all telling, as his love for our race defies human   
   utterance and is commensurate with the divine goodness alone, so it   
   follows that his union with his beloved ones is closer than any other   
   conceivable union and admits of no comparison. Scripture of necessity   
   has recourse to many models in order to describe that intimacy, for   
   one alone is insufficient.  Sometimes it takes a dweller and his house   
   as an example, sometimes a vine and its branch,  sometimes marriage,   
   sometimes members and head; but none of these is adequate to express   
   it or bring us to the complete truth. Friendship and love tend   
   necessarily to unite, but what human friendship can compare with the   
   love of God? The models which seem best fitted to connote intimacy and   
   oneness are marriage and the harmonious subordination of the members   
   of a body to its head.   
   —Nicolas Cabasilas   
      
   ============   
   August 13th - Saint Cassian of Imola   
      
   St. Cassian was a schoolmaster at Imola in northeast Italy. He died a   
   martyr during the Roman persecutions, probably in the third century.   
      
   Cassian had apparently been a school teacher for some time (most   
   likely of only pagan kids). Then a widespread persecution of   
   Christians commenced. Roman officials arrested him because he was   
   known, or at least suspected, to be a Christian. He was taken before   
   the governor, and the governor demanded, as usual, that he offer   
   sacrifice to the gods. Naturally, Cassian refused to perform this act   
   of apostasy, so he was condemned to death.   
      
   Now, the Romans had many set types of execution to choose from, but   
   sometimes they invented others. Knowing that Cassian was a   
   schoolmaster, the governor decided that it would be a clever novelty   
   to have him stabbed to death by his own pupils! Wouldn’t the kids love   
   it!   
      
   The schoolmaster was therefore stretched out on the ground and fixed   
   down securely. Then Cassian’s former students were brought in. They   
   had not particularly liked their teacher because he had been strict   
   with them. Given the signal, therefore, they set about with a fiendish   
   joy to torment him. They broke their wooden writing tablets over his   
   head, carved their initials carefully on his flesh, and finally   
   stabbed him all over with their pens. Cassian meanwhile accepted their   
   blows with much patience and no malice. He died bloodied with a   
   thousand little wounds.   
      
   This was truly a brutal execution. It brought death to Cassian, but it   
   doubtless did greater harm to the executioners. Children encouraged in   
   violence can be as cruel as young hyenas. The governor’s sentence was   
   doubly criminal: he not only executed an innocent Christian; he   
   corrupted the innocence of a large number of children. Our Lord spoke   
   sternly about such corrupters: “It would be better for anyone who   
   leads astray one of these little ones who believe in me to be drowned   
   by a millstone around his neck in the depths of the sea.” (Mt. 18:5-6)   
      
   Today adults are more likely to corrupt children by destroying their   
   sexual innocence. But an increasing number of youngsters are   
   committing crimes of violence. Who but their elders have shown them   
   the way? What will be their penalty in the Last Judgment?   
      
   St. Cassian, victim of youthful violence, help us to protect our   
   little ones against such spoilers!   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is not enough to do good things, but we must do them well, in   
   imitation of Christ our Lord, of whom it was written: Bene omnia   
   fecit--He did all things well.  We ought, then, to strive to do all   
   things in the spirit of Christ; that is, with the perfection, with   
   circumstances, and for the ends for which He performed His actions.   
   Otherwise, even the good works that we do will bring us punishment   
   rather than reward.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another,   
   that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power   
   in its effects.  [James 5:16]   RSVCE   
      
   <><><><>   
   On Certain Temptations Against Humility   
      
   It is not easy to be humble when we are praised and flattered. Our   
   self-love sucks in with eagerness the words of compliment. We think   
   they must be partly true, or at least we are tempted to exult in the   
   high opinion that others profess of us. Such occasions are very   
   perilous to humility. We should do well to think of Herod when the   
   people listened to his oration, and shouted out: "It is the voice of a   
   god and not of a man." We read that because he took the glory to   
   himself instead of giving it to God, he was smitten down by the Angel   
   of the Lord and died miserably. (Acts xii.)   
      
   Yet we cannot help being pleased when others speak kindly of us, and   
   we ought to be pleased when our superiors commend us. But we must   
   observe certain precautions. (1) We must take care to rejoice rather   
   in the kindness of others than in their praise. (2) We must strive and   
   forget ourselves, and raise our heart to God, and offer Him our   
   success. (3) We must make an act of humility at the thought that if   
   those who praise us saw us as God sees us, they would despise, not   
   honor us.   
      
   If we find that we are puffed up by praise, this is a fresh proof of   
   our imperfection. The Saints disliked and dreaded praise, and when   
   they were blamed unjustly, thanked God and took it as a mark of His   
   love and favor. Father Lancicius used to consider unjust reproaches as   
   pure gain, because they had no drawback of self-reproach or regret.   
   Which do I accept most gladly, undue praise or undeserved blame?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)