From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Truth Speaks inwardly without the Sound of Words (2)   
      
     The children of Israel once said to Moses: “Speak thou to us and we   
   will hear thee: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die.” Exod.   
   20:19.  Not so, Lord, not so do I pray. Rather with Samuel the prophet   
   I entreat humbly and earnestly:   
   “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” Do not let Moses or any of the   
   prophets speak to me; but You speak, O Lord God, Who inspired and   
   enlightened all the prophets; for You alone, without them, can   
   instruct me perfectly, whereas they, without You, can do nothing.   
   They, indeed, utter fine words, but they cannot impart the spirit.   
   They do indeed speak beautifully, but if You remain silent they cannot   
   inflame the heart. They deliver the message; You lay bare the sense.   
   They place before us mysteries, but You unlock their meaning. They   
   proclaim commandments; You help us to keep them. They point out the   
   way; You give strength for the journey. They work only outwardly; You   
   instruct and enlighten our hearts. They water on the outside; You give   
   the increase.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 2   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   29 July – Blessed Pope Urban II   
      
   Bishop, Pope, Abbot, Confessor – born Odo of Châtillon or Otho de   
   Lagery, was Pope from 12 March 1088 to his death in 1099. Born at   
   Lagery, France and died on 29 July 1099 in Rome, Italy of natural   
   causes.   
      
   Urban II was a native of France. He was a descendant of a noble family   
   in Châtillon-sur-Marne. Reims was the nearby cathedral school that   
   Urban, at that time Eudes, began his studies at 1050, under St Bruno   
   O.Cart. (c 1030 -1101), afterwards founder of the Carthusians. Otho   
   later became canon and archdeacon at Reims.   
      
   About 1070 he retired to Cluny and was professed there under the abbot   
   St Hugh. After holding the office of prior, he was sent by St Hugh to   
   Rome as one of the monks asked for by Gregory VII. Otho was of great   
   assistance to Gregory in the difficult task of reforming the Church.   
      
   On 12 March, 1088, he was unanimously elected Bishop of Rome, taking   
   the title of Urban II. His first act was to proclaim his election to   
   the world and to exhort the princes and bishops who had been loyal to   
   Gregory to continue in their allegiance. Urban declared his intention   
   of following the policy and example of his great predecessor – “all   
   that he rejected, I reject, what he condemned I condemn, what he loved   
   I embrace, what he considered as Catholic, I confirm and approve”.   
      
   Due to issues with the Normans, Urban was unable to stay in Rome. He   
   went to Sicily instead and Southern Italy. There was also an antipope   
   in Rome. Eventually, the troops of pope and antipope met in a   
   desperate encounter which lasted three days, with Urban’s troops   
   winning and Urban returning to Rome. Urban was again expelled from   
   Rome by Emperor Henry IV. For three years he was compelled to wander   
   in exile about southern Italy. He spent the time holding councils and   
   improving the character of ecclesiastical discipline.   
      
   Urban also started dealing with a Crusade request during a council   
   held at Piacenza. The Eastern Emperor, Alexius I, had sent an embassy   
   to the pope asking for help against the Seljuk Turks who were a   
   serious menace to the Empire of Constantinople. Urban succeeded in   
   inducing many of those present to promise to help Alexius but no   
   definite step was taken till a few months later, when he summoned the   
   most famous of his councils, that at Clermont in Auvergne. The council   
   met in November, 1095 – thirteen archbishops, two hundred and   
   twenty-five bishops and over ninety abbots answered the pope’s   
   summons. The synod met in the Church of Notre-Dame du Port and began   
   by reiterating the Gregorian Decrees against simony, investiture and   
   clerical marriage.   
      
   Thousands of nobles and knights had met together for the council. It   
   was decided that an army of horse and foot should march to rescue   
   Jerusalem and the Churches of Asia from the Saracens. A plenary   
   indulgence was granted to all who should undertake the journey pro   
   sola devotione and further to help the movement, the Truce of God was   
   extended and the property of those who had taken the cross was to be   
   looked upon as sacred.   
      
   Coming forth from the church the pope addressed the immense multitude.   
   He used his wonderful gifts of eloquence to the utmost, depicting the   
   captivity of the Sacred City where Christ had suffered and died   
      
   – “Let them turn their weapons dripping with the blood of their   
   brothers against the enemy of the Christian Faith. Let them,   
   oppressors of orphans and widows, murderers and violators of churches,   
   robbers of the property of others, vultures drawn by the scent of   
   battle, let them hasten, if they love their souls, under their captain   
   Christ to the rescue of Sion.”   
      
   In October, 1098, the pope held a council at Bari with the intention   
   of reconciling the Greeks and Latins on the question of the filioque   
   “and from the Son”. One hundred and eighty bishops attended, amongst   
   whom was St Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) Doctor of the Church. The   
   close of November saw the pope again in Rome; it was his final return   
   to the city. Here he held his last council in April, 1099. Once more   
   he raised his eloquent voice on behalf of the Crusades and many   
   responded to his call. On 15 July, 1099, Jerusalem fell before the   
   attack of the crusaders but Urban did not live to hear the news.   
      
   He died in the house of Pierleone which had so often given him   
   shelter. His remains could not be buried in the Lateran because of the   
   antipope’s followers who were still in the city but were conveyed to   
   the crypt of St Peter’s where they were interred close to the tomb of   
   Adrian I. Guibert of Nogent asserts that miracles were wrought at the   
   tomb of Urban, who appears as a saint in many of the Martyrologies.   
   Thus there seems to have been a cult of Urban II from the time of his   
   death, though the feast (29 July) has never been extended to the   
   Universal Church.   
      
   Amongst the figures painted in the apse of the oratory built by   
   Calixtus II in the Lateran Palace is that of Urban II with the words   
   sanctus Urbanus secundus beneath it. The head is crowned by a square   
   nimbus and the pope is represented at the feet of Our Lady.  The   
   formal act of Beatification did not take place till the pontificate of   
   Leo XIII. The cause was introduced by Mgr Langenieux, Archbishop of   
      
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