From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Love your enemy and make a friend   
      
   "The unique, the highest proof of love is this, to love the person who   
   is against us. This is why Truth himself bore the suffering of the   
   cross and yet bestowed his love on his persecutors, saying, 'Father,   
   forgive them for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). Why should   
   we wonder that his living disciples loved their enemies, when their   
   dying master loved his? He expressed the depth of his love when he   
   said, 'No one has greater love that this, than that he lay down his   
   life for his friends' (John 15:13).' The Lord had come to die even for   
   his enemies, and yet he said he would lay down his life for his   
   friends to show us that when we are able to win over our enemies by   
   loving them, even our persecutors are our friends."   
   by Gregory the Great (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 27)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   October 2nd – Bl. Bartolomé Blanco Márquez   
      
   20th century Catholic martyr Blessed Bartolomé Blanco Márquez was   
   executed during the religious persecution in 1930's Spain.   
      
   Born in Pozoblanco 25 November 1914, Bartolomé was orphaned as a   
   child, and raised by family with whom he worked. He was an excellent   
   student, studying under the tutelage of the Salesians. He also served   
   as a lay catechist, and at 18 was elected youth secretary of Catholic   
   Action in Pozoblanco.   
      
   On 18 August 1936, Bartolomé was imprisoned while on military leave;   
   September 24 he was moved to a prison in Jaen. There he was held with   
   fifteen priests and other laymen; judged, condemned to death and shot   
   on October 2, 1936.   
      
   During his trial, Bartolomé remained true to his faith and his   
   religious convictions. He did not protest his death sentence and told   
   the court that if he lived he would continue being an active Catholic.   
      
   The letters he wrote on the eve of his death to his family and to his   
   girlfriend Maruja show his profound faith.   
      
     “May this be my last will: forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness;   
   but indulgence, which I wish to be accompanied by doing them as much   
   good as possible. Therefore, I ask you to avenge me with the vengeance   
   of a Christian: returning much good to those that have tried to do me   
   evil,” he wrote to his relatives.(See Following “Heroic Witness”)   
      
   According to documents supporting his cause for beatification   
   Bartolomé went to the site of his execution barefooted, "in order to   
   be more conformed to Christ."   
      
    He kissed his handcuffs, surprising the guards that cuffed him. He   
   refused to be shot from behind. “Whoever dies for Christ should do so   
   facing forward and standing straight. Long live Christ the King!” he   
   shouted as he fell to the ground under a shower of bullets.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Lean upon Him, because if the Lord is not your support and your   
   strength, then you will fall and you will be afraid of everything."   
   St. John of the Cross, Sermons, 9, first Sunday of Lent   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Now seeing the constancy of Peter and of John, understanding that they   
   were illiterate and ignorant men, they wondered: and they knew them   
   that they had been with Jesus.  [Acts 4:13] DRB   
      
   <><><><>   
   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)