From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Corruption of Nature and the Efficacy of Divine Grace [I]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    O Lord my God, Thou have created me in Thy own image and likeness.   
   Grant me this great grace, so necessary to my salvation, that I may   
   conquer the base elements of my nature, (Rom.7:23) that drag me down   
   into sin and perdition. Within my being I can feel the power of sin   
   contending against the rule of my mind, leading me away an obedient   
   slave to all kinds of sensuality. I cannot resist its onslaughts,   
   unless Thy most holy grace is poured glowing into my heart to help me.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 55   
      
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   4 March – Saint Peter of Pappacarbone   
      
   (c 1038-1123)   
   Bishop, Abbot, Reformer. Born in Salerno, Italy and died in 1123 of   
   natural causes. Patronage – Policastro, Italy. Also known as – Pieror   
   de Cava, Peter of La Cava, Peter I of Cava.   
      
   The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the Monastery of Cava de Tirreni in   
   Campania, St Peter, Abbot, admirably renewed the discipline.”   
      
   Peter was a native of Salerno in Italy, a nephew of St Alferius,   
   founder of the Monastery of Cava. Peter entered the religious life at   
   a very early age under St Leo, the 2nd Abbot of Cava. He distinguished   
   himself at once by his piety, mortifications and love of solitude.   
      
   At this time, the fame of the Abbey of Cluny had spread far and wide,   
   and the young monk was so attracted by what he had heard, that in   
   about 1062 he obtained Permission to leave Cava and go to France to   
   investigate the way of life at Cluny When the older Monks at Cluny   
   would have sent him to the school to be trained, their Abbot, St Hugh   
   disagreed, saying that Peter might be young in years but that he was a   
   full-grown man in devotion. The Abbot’s opinion was abundantly   
   justified, for Peter proved himself well amongst that household of   
   holy men and he remained there for some six years.   
      
   He was then recalled to Italy, having been released by St Hugh   
   apparently at the request of the Archdeacon of Rome, Hildebrand (who   
   was afterwards Pope St Gregory VII). Peter was appointed the first   
   Bishop of Policastro but he found himself unfitted for the turmoil of   
   the world and for the secular cares which devolved upon him. He   
   obtained permission to resign and retired to Cava, where Abbot Leo,   
   realising that he himself was becoming too old to govern, nominated   
   him as his successor and withdrew. The Monks, by their votes, had   
   confirmed the election of their new superior but soon found the strict   
   rule he had brought from Cluny extremely irksome: they began to murmur   
   and rebel and some of them carried their complaints to the aged Leo in   
   his retirement.   
      
   Peter, far from resisting and equally far from relaxing the rule,   
   quietly left and betook himself to another Monastery. It was not long   
   before the Monks of Cava, urged by Abbot Leo, came to entreat Peter to   
   return, which he consented to do. Thereafter it was remarked, that   
   those who had the most vehemently opposed him, were now foremost in   
   welcoming the rule they had previously spurned.   
      
   Under the government of Abbot Peter the Monastery flourished   
   amazingly. Not only did numbers of aspirants to the religious life   
   flock to him from all sides but men and women in the world, showered   
   money and lands upon the community, which was then enabled to minister   
   far and wide, to the sick and the poor. The Abbey itself had to be   
   enlarged to admit the new members and a new Church was built, to the   
   dedication of which came Pope Urban II, who had been with Peter at   
   Cluny and had remained his close friend. The description of this   
   occasion was preserved in the chronicles of Cava, where it is stated   
   that Blessed Urban talked freely with the Abbot and Monks, as though   
   “forgetting that he was the Pope.”   
      
   Peter lived to a great age and died in 1123. He was succeeded by St   
   Constabilis, who had served as Peter’s Assistant and Auxiliary.   
      
   The Abbey of Cava still exists and in 1912 the Monks gave proof of   
   their devotion to the Founders of their observance by reprinting, from   
   the unique ancient manuscript in their possession, the Lives of the   
   Saints Alferius, Peter and two other early Sainted Abbots, purporting   
   to be written by Hugh of Venosa, a younger contemporary of St Peter.   
   It is to this biography, which may be found in the Acta Sanctorum   
   (March, vol. i), that we owe all our knowledge of St Peter of Cava.   
      
   The first four Abbots of Cava were officially recognised and Canonised   
   as Saints on 21 December 1893, by Pope Leo XIII. They are Alferius,   
   the Founder and first Abbot (1050), Leo I (1050–79), Peter of   
   Pappacarbone (1079–1123) and Constabilis (1122-1124). Their relics   
   rest in the Abbey Church in the Chapel of the Saintly Fathers.’   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2022/03/04/   
      
      
   “But I say to you, love your enemies” – Matthew 5:44   
      
   REFLECTION – “One of you will say: “I’m not able to love my enemies at   
   all.” All through Holy Scripture God has said to you that you can and   
   do you answer Him that, to the contrary, you cannot!? Now think about   
   it – who are we to believe? God or you? Since He who is Truth itself   
   cannot lie, let human weakness leave off its futile excuses forthwith!   
   He who is just, cannot demand something impossible and He who is   
   merciful, will not condemn someone for something that person could not   
   avoid. So why these evasions then? There is no-one who knows better,   
   what we are capable of, than He who has given us the ability...   
    – St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Bishop and Monk – Sermons to the   
   people, no 37   
      
   PRAYER – Almighty God, to whom this world, with all it’s goodness and   
   beauty belongs, give us grace joyfully, to begin this day for Christ   
   Your Son, in Him and with Him and to fill it, with an active love for   
   all Your children, even those who may not like or who do us harm. Help   
   us to love as You do, so that we may become like You. St Casimir, you   
   who spread your charity abundantly in your short life and continue to   
   do so now from Heaven, pray for us. Through Christ our Lord, with the   
   Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.   
      
   Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself —Matt. 16:24   
      
   "The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken   
   from the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it   
   should be held as certain that the greater violence we shall do   
   ourselves in mortification, the greater advance we shall make in   
   perfection"   
   --St. Jerome   
      
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)