From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - Joel 2:13 -   
      
       Rend your heart   
       and not your garments.   
       Return to the LORD your God,   
       for he is gracious and compassionate,   
       slow to anger and abounding in love,   
       and he relents from sending calamity.   
   ____________________________________________________________________   
      
   Grace is extended even to those who fail. Have you failed in some area of   
   your   
   life? Have you been disobedient? The grace of God is provided for those who   
   fail, for those of us who are sinners. The solution is found in coming back.   
   He   
   will forgive and reinstate you. If it were not so, we would all despair.   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   March 11th - St. Oengus, Abbot B (AC   
   (Also known as Aengus, Oengoba)   
      
   Born in Ireland; died c. 830. The appellation "Culdee," Ceile De, or Kele-De   
   means "worship of God," which became the name of a monastic movement   
   otherwise   
   known as the "Companions of God." Oengus was of the race of the Dalaradians,   
   kings of Ulster. In his youth, renouncing all earthly pretensions, he chose   
   Christ for his inheritance by embracing the religious life in the monastery   
   of   
   Cluain-Edneach (Clonenagh) in East Meath (County Laois). Here he became so   
   greatly proficient both in learning and sanctity, that no one in his time   
   could   
   be found in Ireland that equaled him in reputation for every kind of virtue,   
   and   
   for sacred knowledge.   
      
   To shun the esteem of the world, he disguised himself and entered the   
   monastery   
   of Tamlacht (Tallaght Hill), three miles from Dublin, where he lived for   
   seven   
   years as an anonymous lay brother. There he performed all the drudgery of   
   the   
   house, appearing fit for nothing but the vilest tasks, while interiorly he   
   was   
   being perfected in love and contemplation absorbed in God. After his   
   identity   
   was discovered when he tried to coach an unsuccessful student, he returned   
   to   
   Cluain-Edneach, where the continual austerity of his life, and his constant   
   application to God in prayer, may be more easily admired than imitated. For   
   example, he would daily recite one-third of the psalter (50 Psalms) while   
   immersed in cold water.   
      
   He was chosen abbot, and at length raised to the episcopal dignity: for it   
   was   
   usual then in Ireland for eminent abbots in the chief monasteries to be   
   bishops.   
   He was known for his devotion to the saints. He left both a longer and a   
   shorter   
   Irish Martyrology, and five other books concerning the saints of his   
   country,   
   contained in what the Irish call Saltair-na-Rann. The short martyrology was   
   a   
   celebrated metrical hymn called Felire or Festilogium. The longer,   
   Martyrology   
   of Tallaght was composed in collaboration with Saint Maelruain of Tallaght.   
      
   He died at Disertbeagh (now Desert Aenguis or Dysert Enos), which became   
   also a   
   famous monastery, and took its name from him. Although he was famous in his   
   time, there are no early vitae now extant and he is now commemorated   
   liturgically in many Irish dioceses (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth,   
   Montague).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   In order to teach it is enough to know something. But to educate one must be   
   something. True education consists in giving oneself as a living model, an   
   authentic lesson."   
   -Saint Alberto Hurtado Cuchaga   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall   
   condemn   
   it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater   
   than Jonas here. 42. The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this   
   generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the   
   earth to   
   hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here.   
   (Matthew   
   12:41-42)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   SPECIAL 30 DAY NOVENA   
      
   It has long been a custom in the Church to say this prayer of petition on 30   
   consecutive days. It is also recommended as a Lenten devotion as well as for   
   all   
   Fridays of the year.   
      
   Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, through   
   that   
   sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thy only Son, Jesus   
   Christ, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the Cross; through that   
   filial   
   tenderness and pure love He hast for thee, while from His Cross He   
   recommended   
   thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, Saint John, take   
   pity,   
   I beseech thee, on my poverty and need; have compassion on my anxieties and   
   cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries. Thou art   
   the   
   Mother of Mercies, the only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the   
   desolate   
   and afflicted.   
      
   Cast therefore an eye of pity on this sorrowful child of Eve, and hear my   
   prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself surrounded   
   by a   
   multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, where can I   
   fly   
   for more secure shelter, O loving Mother of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,   
   than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Listen, therefore, I   
   beseech   
   thee, with an air of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request.   
      
   I ask it through the infinite mercy of thy dear Son: through that love and   
   humility with which He embraced our human nature, when through thine own   
   obedience to the Divine Will, thou didst consent to become His Mother, and   
   Whom   
   after nine months, you didst bring forth from thy chaste womb, to visit this   
   world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through the anguish of mind   
   of   
   thy beloved Son, our dear Savior, on Mount Olivet, when He besought His   
   Eternal   
   Father, to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future   
   passion. I ask it, through the three-fold repetition of His prayers in the   
   Garden, from whence afterwards in sorrow thou didst accompany Him to the   
   scene   
   of His death and sufferings.   
      
   In ask it, through the laceration of His sinless flesh, caused by the cords   
   and   
   whips with which He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless   
   garments, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through   
   the   
   scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and   
   unjust   
   sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with enduring   
   patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence   
   and   
   resignation; His sadness and grief of heart.   
      
   I ask it, through the Blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head,   
   when   
   struck with the scepter of a reed, and pierced with His Crown of Thorns. I   
   ask   
   it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet   
   were   
   fastened with nails to the tree of the Cross. I ask it, through His   
   unbearable   
   thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His   
   dereliction   
   on the Cross, when He exclaimed: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?   
   I   
   ask it, through His Mercy extended to the good thief, and through His   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)