From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Faith must be nourished with the Word of God   
      
   Faith is both a free gift of God and the free assent of our will to   
   the whole truth that God has revealed. To live, grow, and persevere in   
   the faith to the end, we must nourish it with the word of God. The   
   Lord gives us his Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds that we may grow   
   in his truth and in the knowledge of his great love for each of us. If   
   we approach God's word with trust and submission, and with an   
   eagerness to do what the Lord desires for us, then we are in a much   
   better position to learn what God wants to teach us through his word.   
   Are you eager to be taught by the Lord and to conform your mind,   
   heart, attitude, and intentions according to his word of truth,   
   goodness, and love?   
      
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   June 2: - Saint Erasmus of Formiae (Saint Elmo)   
      
   (died 303)   
   Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Erasmus of Formiae, bishop   
   and martyr of the Church, also known as Saint Elmo. As with many   
   martyrs of the early Church, we know little about their lives and   
   upbringings, but much about their pious and courageous deaths,   
   accounts of which were recorded, believed to be more instructive to   
   the faithful than complete biographies.   
      
   The childhood and birthplace of Saint Erasmus is lost to history. In   
   the late third century, we do know that he was appointed bishop of   
   Antioch in Asia Minor, where he led the faithful. When Emperor   
   Diocletian ascended to the throne, widespread persecution of   
   Christians began, and Antioch was not overlooked. Saint Erasmus fled   
   into the mountains of Lebanon, where he undertook an austere life of   
   prayer and fasting, going without food for days at a time. Holy legend   
   tells us that a raven brought him food when he deprived himself for   
   too long. Eventually, however, he was discovered by the soldiers of   
   the emperor and dragged to judgment.   
      
   Saint Erasmus was gently urged to recant his faith, as he was an   
   elder, and some respect was offered him. However, when he adamantly   
   stated his belief in Christ, and could not be persuaded to make   
   offerings to the gods. He stated, “Almighty God, that made all things,   
   hath wrought heaven and hell and all that is therein, him will I not   
   forsake for no thing that can or may be done to me, for his goodly   
   grace hath given to me such grace, and to other his chosen friends,   
   that he was made man and hath tasted and suffered the bitter death for   
   me and for all sinners.” Saint Erasmus was viciously tortured. He was   
   at first scourged, had heated hooks jabbed into his intestines and   
   stomach, and was finally thrown into a caldron filled with boiling   
   oil. However, despite these horrific tortures, the Lord protected   
   Saint Erasmus from death, and many were converted to the   
   faith—including the jailor and his family.   
      
   Unable to torture him physically into recanting his faith, the judge   
   ordered him imprisoned in chains, thrown into a pit filled with vipers   
   and worms, and forbid the jailor to feed him, insisting that he die of   
   starvation for his crime. However, Erasmus was again delivered, with   
   an angel appearing to him and leading him to freedom. During his   
   escape, the angel proclaimed, ”Erasmus, Follow me! Thou shalt convert   
   a great many.”   
      
   Erasmus fled to Europe, preaching the power of the Lord, performing   
   miracles, and converting the multitudes proclaimed by the angel. Upon   
   his arrival in Italy, however, he was again arrested—this time by   
   Emperor Maximin, who also persecuted Christians. History tells us that   
   the emperor, enraged by Erasmus’ success in conversion, ordered three   
   hundred of the newly baptized Christians killed as incentive for   
   Erasmus to recant his faith. When he did not, he was cruelly tortured   
   and again imprisoned. During this torture, his intestines were slowly   
   wound around a sailor’s capstan, which is why he is the patron saint   
   of sailors today. Eventually, Saint Erasmus died a martyr’s death due   
   to disemboweling and subsequent beheading, having been summoned by the   
   voice of the Lord.   
   by Jacob   
      
   From the Golden Legend:   
   “And when the hour was come that this holy bishop and martyr of God   
   should depart out of this world, then was preferred a loud voice   
   perfectly, coming from heaven saying: “Erasmus, my true servant, thou   
   hast done me true service, wherefore come with me and go and enter   
   into the bliss and joy of thy Lord, and I promise thee and all people   
   that think upon thy great pain and call upon thy holy name, and thee   
   sue and worship every Sunday, what that they ask of me in thy name for   
   the weal of their souls, I shall grant it. Now come, my true and   
   chosen friend, be glad and comforted with mine ascension. I will that   
   thou arise with me and come sit upon the right hand of my Father.”   
   Then was this holy man right glad and joyful, and he cast his eyes   
   upward to heaven, with lifting up his hands, and there he saw, a clear   
   shining crown come from heaven upon his blessed head. Then gave he   
   loving and thanking to Almighty God with bowing his head and kneeling,   
   and both his hands upward to heaven, and meekly said: “O Lord in thy   
   hands yield my spirit, and this Sunday receive my soul into thy peace   
   and rest.” And with saying these words he yielded up his ghost, which   
   was seen with many men s eyes, shining clearer than the sun, and how   
   that he was received of the holy angels, and was led through the   
   height of heaven into the uppermost plan of heaven: there he standeth   
   with God, with all the holy company, and is there a true helper to all   
   them that call truly to Saint Erasmus for ghostly health, which joy   
   and ghostly health let us pray that he for us all of our Lord God may   
   obtain.”   
      
   Saint Erasmus is one of the 14 Holy Helpers, a group of saints invoked   
   with special confidence because they have proven themselves   
   efficacious helpers in adversity and difficulties. Other saints   
   identified as Holy Helpers are: Saints Blaise, Catherine of   
   Alexandria, George, Christopher, and others. Saint Erasmus, due to the   
   manner in which he was tortured, is the patron saint of those with   
   stomach or intestinal disorders.   
      
   Saint Erasmus, under the name Saint Elmo, is also the patron saint of   
   sailors, and the shining lights observed upon his death, continue to   
   be reported by sailors as “Saint Elmo’s fire.” This electrostatic   
   phenomenon has been reported throughout history, from Julius Caesar,   
   to the journals of sailors on Magellan’s voyage around the globe, to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)