From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Holy Martyrs   
      
   Those who spout vain words and are true Philistines do not form part of   
   the family of Christ. "Who can equal me? Who dares attack me?" Is not this   
   the language of   
   those who pride themselves on their own resources? The just will bring low   
   all that pride.   
   This is what martyrs did. They vanquished the wicked at the very moment when   
   the latter   
   appeared to be victorious.   
   -Sermon 32, 4   
   Prayer. Lord, you are delightful food for the pure of heart.   
   -Confessions 13, 21 Augustine   
      
      
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   November 9th - Saint Theodore Tyro, Martyr in Asia Minor   
   (d. 304)   
      
   Saint Theodore Tyro, one of the most celebrated of the oriental martyrs, was   
   born of a noble family in the East, and enrolled while still a youth in the   
   imperial army. Early in 306, when he had just joined the legion and marched   
   with its soldiers into the Pont, the Roman Emperor issued an edict requiring   
   all Christians to offer sacrifice. The young man was faced with the choice   
   between apostasy and death. He declared before his commander that he was   
   ready to be cut in pieces and offer up every limb to his Creator, who had   
   died for him. Wishing to conquer him by gentleness, the commander left him   
   in peace for a while, that he might think over his resolution.   
      
   He profited from his liberty to fortify other confessors for martyrdom, and   
   in his ardor for the downfall of idolatry he set fire to a temple dedicated   
   to the goddess Cybel, called "the mother of the gods." He did not attempt to   
   conceal his act, but when arrested admitted at once that he was the author   
   of it, and that he had undertaken it to prevent the sacrileges committed   
   every day in that place of abomination. The judge could not persuade him to   
   renounce this "crime" and adore the empire's divinities; he therefore had   
   him cruelly whipped and then shut up in a solitary cell with the order to   
   give him nothing to eat and let him die of hunger.   
      
   Our Lord visited him during the night and consoled him, and He told his   
   servant He Himself would nourish him invisibly. This visit filled him with   
   such joy that he began to sing; and at the same moment, Angels in white   
   robes appeared in his prison, to sing hymns of joy with him. The jailers and   
   guardians all witnessed this spectacle, as did also the judge Publius who   
   had condemned him, but none of them were touched by it. They gave him an   
   ounce of bread and a flask of water every day, only to prolong his   
   martyrdom. The Saint refused these offerings.   
      
   When the authorities made him fine promises and attempted to persuade him to   
   conform, he protested that never would he say one word or make one gesture   
   contrary to the fidelity he owed to his sovereign Lord. He was again beaten   
   and tortured with iron hooks, then burnt with torches, and condemned finally   
   to be burnt alive, to punish him for the fire he had ignited. He made the   
   sign of the Cross, and filled with faith, hope and pure love of God, gave up   
   to Him his beautiful soul, victorious and laden with merits. The year was   
   304. The Christians saw his soul rise to heaven like a flash of light and   
   fire.   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13; Little Pictorial Lives of the   
   Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other   
   sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood I could do nothing else   
   but live for him, my religious vocation dates from the same moment as my   
   faith: God is so great. There is such a difference between God and   
   everything that is not.   
   -Blessed Charles de Foucauld   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   2 Of the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things: but   
   the soul of transgressors is wicked. 3 He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth   
   his soul: but he that hath no guard on his speech shall meet with evils.   
   (Proverbs 13:2-3)   
      
      
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    Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead   
      
   "Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand   
   of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.   
      
   NINTH DAY   
      
   The just die members of the Church and so continue. They remain united with   
   us as well as with God by Faith, Hope and Charity. Therefore we should   
   assist them as one member assists another.   
      
   Prayers:  Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.   
      
   De Profundis   
      
      Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,   
   O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.   
      Let Thine ears be attentive to the   
   voice of my supplication.   
      If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,   
   O Lord, who shall stand it?   
      For with Thee there is merciful   
   forgiveness: and by reason of Thy   
   law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.   
   My soul hath relied on His word;   
   my soul hath hoped in the Lord.   
      From the morning watch even until   
   night; let Israel hope in the Lord.   
   Because with the Lord there is mercy;   
   And with Him plenteous redemption.   
      And He shall redeem Israel from   
   all its iniquities.   
      Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,   
   And let perpetual light shine upon them:   
      May they rest in peace. Amen.   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, by Thy terrible agony in the Garden, we beseech Thee to   
   have pity on the Souls in Purgatory, particularly the soul who has the most   
   to suffer through us. Deliver it from the torments, that it may join the   
   heavenly throng in forever glorifying Thee.   
      
   See entire prayer at:   
   http://halfthekingdom.com/daily%20thoughts%20and%20prayers.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)