From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   [Mary] did the Father's will.   
      
   "[Mary] did the Father's will. It was this in her that the Lord   
   magnified, not merely that her flesh gave birth to flesh... When he   
   said, 'Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it' (Luke   
   11:28), he was in effect saying: 'My mother whom you have called   
   blessed is blessed for the reason that she keeps the Word of God, not   
   that the Word was made flesh in her and dwelt among us (John 1:14),   
   but that she keeps the very Word of God through which she was made and   
   which was made flesh in her."   
   --St. Augustine-- (excerpt from TRACTATE ON JOHN 10.3.2)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   28 April – Saint Vitalis of Ravenna   
      
   Martyr, Husband and Father, Confessor. Died in c 171 in Ravenna by   
   being buried alive. Patronage – Ravenna, Italy and Thibodeaux,   
   Louisiana. Also known as St Vitalis of Milan.   
      
   The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “At Ravenna, the birthday   
   of St Vitalis, Martyr, father of the Saints Gervasius and Protasius.   
   When he had taken up and reverently buried the body of blessed   
   Ursicinus, he was arrested by the ex-consul Paulinus and after being   
   racked and thrown into a deep pit, was overwhelmed with earth and   
   stones and by this kind of martyrdom, went to Christ.”   
      
   Saint Vitalis was a first century Christian citizen of Milan, a   
   consular knight (miles consularis) in the time of Nero who got into   
   trouble when he publicly exhorted a Christian to stand firm under   
   torture. He was the father of the twin brothers and future Martyrs,   
   Saints Gervasius and Protasius. He is the principal Patron of Ravenna,   
   where he was martyred.   
      
   As an important military figure, St Vitalis is shown on an impressive   
   white horse in the picture above. St. Valeria stands at his side,   
   dressed as a distinguished matron of the 16th century.   
      
   Divine providence had conducted him to that city, where he saw come   
   before the tribunal there, a Christian Physician named Ursicinus, who   
   had been tortured and who then was condemned to lose his head for his   
   faith. Suddenly the captive grew terrified at the thought of death and   
   seemed ready to yield. Vitalis was extremely moved by this spectacle.   
   He knew his double obligation to prefer the glory of God and the   
   eternal salvation of his neighbour to his own corporal life; he,   
   therefore, boldly and successfully encouraged Ursicinus to triumph   
   over death, saying, “Ursicinus, you who cured others would want to   
   drive into your soul the dagger of eternal death? Do not lose the   
   crown the Lord has prepared for you!” Ursicinus was touched and deeply   
   strengthened – he knelt down in prayer and then asked the executioner   
   to strike him. After his martyrdom, Saint Vitalis carried away his   
   body and respectfully interred it.   
      
   Saint Vitalis now resigned his post as judiciary and consular   
   assistant to Paulinus, who had been absent on the occasion of the   
   sentence of Ursicinus. Paulinus had his former assistant apprehended,   
   and after having him tortured, commanded that if he refused to   
   sacrifice to the gods, he be buried alive, which sentence was carried   
   out.   
      
   Afterwards, his wife, Valeria, as she was on her way from Ravenna to   
   Milan, was beaten by peasants because she refused to join them in an   
   idolatrous festival and riot. She died two days later in Milan and is   
   also honoured as a Martyr. Their twin sons, Saints Gervasius and   
   Protasius, sold their heritage and for ten years before their own   
   martyrdom, lived a penitential life of prayer.   
      
   We are not all called to the sacrifice of martyrdom; but we are all   
   bound to make our lives a continuing sacrifice of ourselves to God,   
   and to perform every action, in this spirit of sacrifice. Thus we   
   shall both live and die to God, perfectly resigned to His holy will in   
   all He ordains or permits.   
      
   These relics were reclaimed from the Catacombs and are believed to be   
   the body of St Vitalis. They now rest at his Basilica in Ravenna.   
      
   The 6th century Basilica of San Vitalis is dedicated to St Vitalis.   
   The mosaic of him, first image above, is one of the many famous   
   mosaics in this most important surviving example of early Christian   
   Byzantine art and Architecture. It is one of eight structures in   
   Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its    
   foundational inscription describes the Church as a Basilica, though its   
   centrally-planned design is not typical of the Basilica form. The   
   Vatican has designated the building a “basilica”, an honorific title   
   bestowed on exceptional Church buildings of historic and ecclesial   
   importance.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/28/   
      
      
   Quote/s of the Day – 28 April   
      
   “Take advantage of little sufferings   
   even more than of great ones.   
   God considers not so much what we suffer,   
   as how we suffer. . .   
   Turn everything to profit   
   as the grocer does in his shop.”   
      
   “The salvation of the whole world   
   began with the “Hail Mary.”   
   Hence, the salvation of each person   
   is also attached to this prayer.”   
   --St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort   
      
      
   The Only Remedy for All Our Ills   
      
   “Life is a continual battle….   
   But, surely there is a remedy for all the evils which afflict us?   
   God is infinitely good and He has permitted suffering.   
   Will He not give us the means of enduring it and the medicine to cure it?   
   In fact, Our Lord has given us a remedy for all our ills, even for the   
   most distressing.   
   It is a bitter medicine but, it will heal anyone who has the courage   
   to swallow it and it will give him perfect peace of soul.   
   The treatment consists of three stages:   
   (1) Doing the will of God in all things with complete resignation.   
   (2) Doing everything for the love of God.   
   (3) Doing everything and enduring everything for the love of God alone.   
   When a man reaches this highest peak of the spiritual life, he   
   acquires that perfect peace of soul, which the Saints possessed.”   
   --Antonio Cardinal Bacci   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed   
   among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the   
   wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. [7] For every nature   
   of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed,   
   and hath been tamed, by the nature of man: [8] But the tongue no man   
   can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison.   
   [James 3:6-8] DRV   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Short Prayers   
      
   O saving Victim, opening wide   
   The gate of heaven to man below,   
   Our foes press on from every side;   
   Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.   
      
   To Thy great Name be endless praise,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)