From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Angels--Their Employment   
      
   To behold the face of God in Heaven is the noblest and happiest   
   occupation of which His creatures are capable. It is enough and more   
   than enough to satiate them with unspeakable delight through all   
   eternity. This is the essential joy of the Holy Angels. Everywhere and   
   at all times they behold the face of God, and drink in continually   
   fresh draughts of love as they gaze on His infinite perfections.   
      
   They also find unceasing satisfaction in falling on their faces and   
   adoring the Most High, as if, thereby, to express their   
   self-annihilation in the presence of God. They forget themselves in   
   God. He is all in all to them. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive   
   glory and honor and power, because Thou hast created all things, and   
   for Thy will they were and have been created." Is God thus all in all   
   to me?   
      
   They also sing aloud: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty," and to   
   this song melody their celestial harmonies. This is to them of all   
   songs the sweetest, because to publish aloud the holiness of God is   
   the end of all rational creatures, and therefore the source of all   
   true happiness. There is always a sweet music going up to the throne   
   of God from the beautiful harmony of the lives of His saints, and from   
   their adoration of His Infinite Holiness. Do I love and adore the   
   holiness of God, and meditate on the contrast of my unholiness?   
      
   by the Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J.   
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   13 July – Blessed James of Voragine OP   
      
    (c 1226 – 13 or 16 July 1298)   
    Archbishop of Genoa, Author of the ‘Golden Legend’ (a collection of   
   lives of Saints and treatises on Christian festivals, one of the most   
   popular religious works of the Middle Ages and is still published and   
   referred to today – completed 1265), Priest and Friar of the Order of   
   Preachers of St Dominic, Writer, Scholar of great genius, Prior and   
   Provincial General of the Order. Born as Giacomo da Varazze in c 1226   
   at Varazze (modern Voragine), Diocese of Savona, Italy (near Genoa)   
   and died on either 13 July or 16 1298 in Genoa, Italy of natural   
   causes. Also known as – James of Varazze, James of Viraggio, James of   
   Genoa, Giacomo, Jacob, Jacobus, Jacopo.   
      
   James of Voragine has been Beatified by the Church for the sanctity of   
   his life. He lives in secular history for quite a different reason –   
   he was a creative genius of his age. His Golden Legends, which has   
   enjoyed a circulation of nearly seven centuries, is only one of   
   several projects which in his time, as in ours, are a tribute to the   
   versatility of the man and the zeal of a Saint.   
      
   Little is recorded of the childhood of James. He entered the Order of   
   Preachers in Genoa and soon was known, both for his virtue and for a   
   singularly alert and practical mind. Tradition says that James was the   
   first to translate the Bible into Italian. Whether this is true or   
   not, it is ample evidence that he was a true scholar.   
      
   As Prior, provincial, and later Archbishop, James gained a reputation   
   for strict observance, heroic charity and sound good sense. He was a   
   builder where war had wrecked, a peace maker where others sowed   
   trouble. He must of had a contagious zeal, for the wealthy gave to him   
   as readily as the poor begged from him and under his hand, ruined   
   Churches and hospitals were restored, the sick and poor were cared   
   for, and good practices and devotion reignited. He was a genius at   
   getting things done and, fortunately, his whole heart was bent on   
   doing good for the glory of God.   
      
   Like others of his calling and training, James was first of all a   
   Preacher. For those many who could not read, one of the chief means of   
   instruction was via sermons, which took their key note from the feast   
   of the day. The Saints, the stories of their live and examples of   
   their virtues became as much part of a Christians life as the people   
   around him. The collection of stories – later called The Golden Legend   
   – started as a series of sermons prepared by James for the various   
   festival of the Saints. Since he preached in Italian, rather than in   
   Latin, his sermons had immense popular appeal and they were rapidly   
   copied by other Preachers into all the languages of Europe. The Golden   
   Legend was , next to the Bible, the most popular book of the Middle   
   Ages.   
      
   James was rigorous in his observance of the Dominican Rule, which, is   
   of itself, enough to canonise him. He had also the good sense to make   
   use of changing trends to further the work of God. Today he would be   
   using the digital world, the press, the movies, and television – then,   
   he used what his century had to offer – sermons in the vernacular,   
   religious drama and music. How much present day drama and music owed   
   to him, it would be impossible to say.   
      
   There is an amusing story told of his efforts to fight fire with fire.   
   He organised a troop of jugglers and acrobats from the student Novices   
   of San Eustorgio, in Milan, who were to mingle entertainment with   
   doctrine in staging ‘plays’ to teach and in an effort to combat the   
   indecency of the secular theatre. This was one scheme which left no   
   lasting effect but it does serve to show, that James was a man of his   
   times, alert to the changing needs of a fast-moving world and   
   wholeheartedly determined to win the world to the truth of the One   
   Holy Catholic Faith by any honest means that came to hand.   
      
   Purity, poverty and charity were the outstanding virtues of this man   
   whom the Church has seemed fit to enroll among Her blesseds. He will   
   always be recognised in Dominican history as a man of many and   
   peculiar gifts, who consecrated his talents to God and, in trading   
   with them , gained heaven. Blessed James was Beatified on 11 May 1816   
   by Pope Pius VII.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2021/07/13/   
      
      
   “Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had   
   been done, for their failure to repent.” – Matthew 11:20   
      
   Now sin is a wound to the soul. You who are this wounded person, learn   
   that your Doctor is within you and show Him the wounds of your sins.   
   May He, to whom every secret thought is known, hear the moaning of   
   your heart. May your tears move Him and, if you have to seek Him with   
   some insistence, let deep sighs rise up to Him from the bottom of your   
   heart. May your pain come to Him and may you also be told, like David:   
   “The Lord… has forgiven your sin.” (2 Sam 12:13)…   
   You, Almighty Doctor, correct those who scorn You; You teach those who   
   do not know their fault and You forgive those who admit it to You.”   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)