From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Joy of a Good Conscience (4)   
      
     It is characteristic of a humble soul always to do good and to think   
   little of itself. It is a mark of great purity and deep faith to look   
   for no consolation in created things. The man who desires no   
   justification from without has clearly entrusted himself to God: “For   
   not he who commendeth himself is approved,” says St. Paul, “but he   
   whom God commendeth.”  (2 Cor. 10:18.)   
      To walk with God interiorly, to be free from any external   
   affection--this is the state of the inward man.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 6   
      
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   3 May – Saint Ansfrid of Utrecht   
      
    Bishop, Count of Huy and the sword-bearer and Knight for Otto I, Holy   
   Roman Emperor. He became Bishop of Utrecht in 995. He appears to have   
   been the son or grandson of Lambert, a nobleman of the Maasgau, the   
   area where he later founded the Abbeys of Thorn and Heiligenberg and   
   to have been related to various important contemporaries including the   
   royal family. Born in c 940 in the Brabant region of the Netherlands   
   and died on 3 May 1010 in Amersfoort, Netherlands of natural causes.   
   Patronage – Amersfoort. He is also known as Ansfridus, Ansfried,   
   Ansfrido.   
      
   The principal source of information regarding Ansfrid is the De   
   diversitatem temporum by the Benedictine Albert of Metz, written   
   around 1022. Ansfrid had the same name as a paternal uncle, Ansfrid   
   the elder, a Count who held 15 counties. The young Ansfrid studied   
   secular and clerical subjects under another paternal uncle, Robert,   
   Archbishop of Trier, before attending the Cathedral school at Cologne.   
      
   In 961, Otto I took Ansfrid into his personal service and made him his   
   swordbearer. When Otto was in Rome the following year to be crowned   
   Holy Roman Emperor, he directed Ansfrid to keep close at hand ,with   
   the sword as a precaution against any unforeseen eventualities.   
      
   Because of his Christian commitment, he was highly respected and an   
   important Knight of the Emperor’s circle, holding rich possessions   
   along the Meuse, in Brabant and Gelderland. Possibly all or some of   
   his counties were inherited from his paternal uncle of the same name.   
   As Count, he had considerable success in suppressing piracy and armed   
   robbery. In 985, Otto III granted Ansfrid the right to mint coins at   
   Medemblik, on the north-south shipping route through the Vlie, as well   
   as, the income from tolls and tax collecting.   
      
   He was married to Heresuint or Hilsondis. They had one child,   
   Benedicta. He founded a Romanesque Abbey Church on his wife’s estate   
   at Thorn under the patronage of St Michael. The Abbey itself had a   
   double cloister that housed both man and women religious. Ansfrid   
   planned it as a place of retirement for himself and his family after   
   he left public service. His wife was to be the first Abbess but she   
   died on her way there and Benedicta, their daughter, took her place.   
      
   After his wife’s death, Ansfrid desired to retire and become a Monk.   
   However, in 995, Emperor Otto III and Bishop Notker of Liège persuaded   
   the reluctant Ansfrid to assume the then vacant See of Utrecht.   
   Ansfrid objected that as he had borne weapons as a Knight, he was   
   unworthy of the office but the Emperor prevailed. The elderly Count   
   laid down his sword on the Altar of St Mary in Aachen and was Ordained   
   Priest and Consecrated as the 18th Bishop of Utrecht, in the same   
   ceremony. Bishop Ansfrid never took a commission in the royal army, in   
   contrast to Notker and the Bishop of Cologne.   
      
   In 1006 Bishop Ansfrid founded the Abbey of Heiligenberg, also under   
   the patronage of St Michael. Toward the end of his life he became   
   increasingly weakened through fasting and retired there as a Monk,   
   caring for the sick, although almost blind himself.   
      
   Upon his death, during the funeral, the faithful of Heiligenberg took   
   possession of his body, while the people of Utrecht were extinguishing   
   a not coincidental fire. The Abbess of Thorn mediated and Ansfrid was   
   buried in the Cathedral of Saint Martin in Utrecht.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2021/05/03/   
      
      
   “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you   
   still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.   
   How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? …” -John 14:9   
      
   REFLECTION – “In the Church, I know of only one image, that is, the   
   image of the unseen God. God has said about this image, “Let us make   
   man [humankind] in our image.” Of this image it is written that Christ   
   is the “effulgence of the glory and impress of His hypostasis.” In   
   that image, I perceive the Father, as the Lord Jesus Himself has said,   
   “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” For this image is not   
   separated from the Father, which indeed, has taught me the unity of   
   the Trinity, saying, “I and the Father are one” and again, “All things   
   whatever the Father has are mine.” [In this image, also perceive] the   
   Holy Spirit, seeing that the Spirit is Christ’s and has received of   
   Christ, as it is written, “He shall receive of mine and shall announce   
   it to you.”   
    – St Ambrose (340-397)(Sermon Against Auxentius, 32)   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for   
   accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give   
   ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his   
   work by our shortcomings   
   --St. Isaac Jogues   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Fulfil ye my joy, that you be of one mind, having the same charity,   
   being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment.  Let nothing be done   
   through contention: neither by vain glory. But in humility, let each   
   esteem others better than themselves: Each one not considering the   
   things that are his own, but those that are other men's.  [Philippians   
   2:2-4] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer--Goffine's Devout Instructions   
      
   How lovely, O God, are Thy tabernacles! My soul longeth and fainteth   
   for Thy courts, O living God, Who art the crown and reward of the   
   saints, and repayest their sufferings and sorrows in this world with   
   eternal joy. How blessed are all they who, in this life, have served   
   Thee faithfully! They behold Thee and the Lamb of God face to face;   
   they bear Thy name on their foreheads, and reign with Thee forever. We   
   therefore beseech Thee, O God, through their intercessor, to grant us   
   Thy grace to serve Thee after their example, in sanctity and justice;   
   to follow them in poverty, humility, meekness, repentance, in ardent   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)