From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Appreciating God’s Grace  (5)   
      
      Be grateful, therefore, for the least gift and you will be worthy   
   to receive a greater. Consider the least gift as the greatest, the   
   most contemptible as something special. And, if you but look to the   
   dignity of the Giver, no gift will appear too small or worthless. Even   
   though He give punishments and scourges, accept them, because He acts   
   for our welfare in whatever He allows to befall us.   
      He who desires to keep the grace of God ought to be grateful when   
   it is given and patient when it is withdrawn. Let him pray that it   
   return; let him be cautious and humble lest he lose it.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 10   
      
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   August 19th - St. Mochta of Louth, Abbot, Bishop   
   ( Also known as Mocheteus, Mochteus, Mochuta)   
      
   Died c. 534   
    He was born in Britain but was brought to Ireland as a child. Saint   
   Mochta was an important saint in Ireland, as is evident by the number   
   of stories that grew up around his name. He was a disciple of Saint   
   Patrick, who was educated and consecrated bishop in Rome by Pope St.   
   Leo I, but some scholars believe he was consecrated by Saint Patrick.   
      
   When he returned to Ireland, he settled at a place in County Meath   
   called Kell Mor Ydan (now unknown). Local opposition led him to move   
   north to Louth in eastern Ireland. Louth was originally the site of a   
   shrine to the Celtic god Lugh. With twelve companions Saint Mochta   
   founded a large monastery that gained a nation wide reputation. Both   
   monastery and village were burned and plundered frequently by the   
   Danes in the period 829-968   
      
   St. Mochta is claimed as the first bishop of Louth. Among the legends   
   that arose, he and Patrick made a pact that each would care for the   
   other's community after the founder's death. It is also claimed that   
   Mochta numbered 200 bishops among his disciples and lived to be 300   
   years old - a punishment because he doubted the ages of many of the   
   patriarchs of the Old Testament. Scholars believe that he, the last of   
   Patrick's disciples then alive, died at 90.   
      
   Louth, the smallest county in Ireland, covers an area of only   
   317 square miles. It runs northwards from the River Boyne to   
   Carlingford Lough, consisting mainly of fertile undulating country   
   with a coastline of wide sandy bays and occasional rocky headlands. In   
   the north, however, between Dundalk Bay and Carlingford Lough, is the   
   mountainous Cooley Peninsula. The territory now known as County Louth   
   figures prominently in the epic tales of ancient Ireland. It was also   
   the scene of important events, and many chapters of Ireland's history   
   are illustrated by the county's numerous relics of the   
   past(Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The birds are the saints, who fly to heaven on the wings of   
   contemplation, who are so removed from the world that they have no   
   business on earth. They do not labour, but by contemplation alone they   
   already live in heaven.   
   --St. Anthony of Padua   
      
   Psalm 34:4-7 (RSVCE)   
   4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,   
       and delivered me from all my fears.   
   5 Look to him, and be radiant;   
       so your faces shall never be ashamed.   
   6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,   
       and saved him out of all his troubles.   
   7 The angel of the Lord encamps   
       around those who fear him, and delivers them.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Few embrace humility   
      
    "Many," says Saint Jerome, "embrace the shadow and appearance of humility,   
   but few embrace humility itself." It is very easy to look down upon the   
   ground, to speak in a humble tone, to fetch a sigh or two, now and then,   
   and to own one's self a sinner and a miserable creature at every word; but,   
   if you say any thing to these persons which may hurt their feelings in the   
   least, you will see how far they are from true humility. "Let, therefore,"   
   adds Saint Jerome, "all feigned and affected language be dropped; it is   
   patience that shows a man to be truly humble"; it is that which is the   
   touch-stone of humility.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)