From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Encouraging good works done in Christ   
      
   "We ought not be disturbed because some who do not belong or do not   
   yet belong to this temple, that is, among whom God does not or does   
   not yet dwell, perform some works of power, as happened to the one who   
   cast out devils in the name of Christ (Mark 9:38, Luke 9:49). Although   
   he was not a follower of Christ, Christ ordered that he be allowed to   
   continue because it gave a valuable testimony of his name to many...   
   The centurion Cornelius also saw the angel that was sent to him to say   
   that his prayers had been heard and his alms accepted (Acts 10:3-4),   
   even before he was incorporated into this temple by regeneration."   
    by Augustine of Hippo.(excerpt from  LETTER 187, TO DARDANUS 36)   
      
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   June 6th - Saint Rafael Guízar y Valencia   
      
   1878-1938)   
   One of the heroes of the Mexican persecution of Catholicism in the   
   1930s was Bishop Rafael Guizar of Veracruz. Born in Cotija, State of   
   Michoacan, he was one of the 11 children of Prudenzio Guizar and   
   Natividad Valencia. His parents were wealthy landowners, but their   
   Catholic faith was strong and they communicated it to their offspring.   
   One of Rafael’s brothers also became a bishop.   
      
   After a good education, Guizar Valencia, feeling called to the   
   diocesan priesthood, entered the seminary and was ordained priest in   
   1901. An evangelist at heart, he began to move about Mexico giving   
   popular missions. Because of this special talent he was appointed an   
   “apostolic missionary” in 1905, and named spiritual director in the   
   major seminary of Zamora where he himself had been trained. Here he   
   communicated to the seminarians a deep love of the Holy Eucharist, a   
   tender devotion to Our Lady, and his own zealous missionary spirit.   
      
   In addition to conducting missions in several Mexican states, Padre   
   Rafael also founded a school for poor girls, using his own funds. He   
   established two colleges for boys, hoping that they would serve as   
   feeders to the Congregation of Missionaries of Our Lady of Hope, a   
   religious community that he set up in 1903.   
      
   All these efforts were thwarted, however, from 1911 on, by the   
   outbreak of persecution against the Church. His missionary   
   congregation was wiped out, and even his public career as a missionary   
   preacher was officially cancelled.   
      
   Unofficially, of course, Fr. Guizar continued his work. In Mexico City   
   he set up a press and launched a Catholic periodical, although this,   
   too, was quickly shut down by the revolutionaries. Undaunted, Guizar   
   accompanied the armies of the revolution in disguise – now as a   
   hardware peddler, now as a homeopathic physician, now as an accordion   
   player. He ministered to the wounded and preached whenever opportunity   
   offered. Sometimes he returned from his good works with bullet holes   
   in hat and clothing.   
      
   The revolutionists were increasingly infuriated by this missionary’s   
   “guerrilla” ministry. Several times they condemned him to death. He   
   escaped that fate, but became so notorious that he finally decided it   
   was wiser to leave the country; so in 1916, after a brief stay in the   
   United States, he went to Guatemala. There he spent a year of   
   missionary work under an assumed name. From 1917 to 1919 he lived in   
   Cuba, where he preached a total of 153 parish missions.   
      
   Father Guizar was preaching in Havana in August 1919, when he was   
   informed that he had been named bishop of Veracruz, Mexico. Unwilling   
   at first to accept the task, he fled to Colombia, South America, to   
   give missions there. Eventually, however, he returned submissively to   
   Havana, and there he was ordained a bishop. He arrived in Veracruz on   
   January 4, 1920. At almost the same moment a terrible earthquake   
   devastated the diocesan area. Bishop Guizar immediately added the work   
   of relief to that of re-evangelizing his new flock.   
      
   Now the persecution of the Catholic Church intensified; President   
   Plutarco Calles sought to erase it entirely, particularly by   
   eliminating priests. The Bishop of Veracruz had reopened his diocesan   
   seminary, and thanks to his attention, it was beginning to function,   
   but the government closed it once more. Guizar simply transferred the   
   seminary to Mexico City, where it went underground. As a result, when   
   the persecution finally ended, his diocese had more priests than   
   beforehand.   
      
   In 1931, Governor Tejada of Veracruz decreed that only one priest   
   would be allowed for each 100,000 Catholics. Bishop Rafael countered   
   with a nonviolent protest: he closed all the churches in his diocese.   
   Tejada thereupon ordered that the Bishop be shot on sight. On learning   
   this, Guizar at once went to the Governor’s palace, and strode into   
   his office. He respected authority, he told the Governor, but said   
   that he wished to spare Tejada’s assistants the trouble of shooting   
   him. Boldness won out. Governor Tejada did not dare execute Bishop   
   Guizar personally, so he was allowed to remain free.   
      
   The persecution did not cease until 1940. Rafael Guizar “died in the   
   saddle” on June 6, 1938. During nine of his 18 years as bishop, he had   
   been in exile or incognito. This modern St. Athanasius died widely   
   venerated for his zeal and holy courage.   
      
   On January 29, 1995, Pope John Paul II declared him “blessed”.  Pope   
   Benedict XVI canonized him on October 15, 2006.   
   –Father Robert F. McNamara   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Blessed is the mind which, during prayer, is insensible to all things.   
   --St. Nilus of Sinai   
      
   Bible Quote   
   My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me.   
   And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever,   
   and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)   
      
      
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   A Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus   
   by Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.   
      
   Does our life become from day to day more painful, more   
   oppressive, more replete with sufferings? Blessed be He a   
   thousand times who desires it so. If life be harder, love   
   makes it also stronger, and only this love, grounded on   
   suffering, can carry the Cross of my Lord, Jesus Christ."   
      
   "I believe, O Lord, but strengthen my faith...Heart of Jesus, I   
   love Thee, but increase my love. Heart of Jesus, I trust in   
   Thee, but give greater vigor to my confidence. Heart of Jesus,   
   I give my heart to Thee, but so enclose it in Thee that it may   
   never be separated from Thee. Heart of Jesus, I am all Thine,   
   but take care of my promise so that I may be able to put it in   
   practice even unto the complete sacrifice of my life."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)