From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Invite the Lord into Your Hearts:   
      
   See, the voice cries out in the desert;   
   it breaks the silence. "Make straight," it cries out, "the way of the Lord."   
   In other words, I vibrate in your ears only to let the Lord enter into your   
   hearts.   
   But he will enter where I am to introduce himself only if your ardent prayer   
   invites him.   
   --Augustine-Sermon 293, 4   
      
   Prayer. O my soul, why are you so distracted by things? Why are you so   
   occupied with earthly   
   and mortal cares? Stay with me and praise the Lord!   
   --Commentary on Psalm 145, 6   
      
   Meditation for troubled times:   
   Set for yourself the task of growing daily more and more   
   into the consciousness of a Higher Power.   
   We must keep trying to improve our conscious contact with God.   
   This is done by prayer, quiet times, and communion.   
   Often all you need to do is sit silent before God   
   and let Him speak to you through your thought.   
   Try to think God's thoughts after Him. When the guidance comes,   
   you must not hesitate, but go out and follow   
   that guidance in your daily work, doing what you believe to be the right   
   thing.   
    --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
      
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   December 15th - St. Paul of Latros, Wonderworker   
      
   The father of this hermit was an officer in the imperial army who was slain   
   in an engagement with the Saracens. His mother then retired from Pergamos,   
   which was the place of his birth, to Bithynia, taking her two sons with her.   
   Basil, the elder, took the monastic habit upon Mount Olympus in that   
   country, but soon for the sake of greater solitude retired to Mount Latros   
   (Latmus). When their mother was dead he induced his brother to embrace the   
   same state of life. Though young, Paul had experienced the world   
   sufficiently to understand the emptiness and dangers of what it has to   
   offer. Basil recommended him to the care and instruction of the abbot of   
   Karia. St Paul desired for the sake of greater solitude and austerity to   
   lead an eremitical life; but his abbot, thinking him too young, refused him   
   leave so long as he lived. After his death Paul's first cell was a cave on   
   the highest part of Mount Latros, where for some weeks he had no other food   
   than green acorns, which at first made him very sick. After eight months he   
   was called back to Karia. It is said that when he worked in the kitchen the   
   sight of the fire so forcibly reminded him of Hell that he burst into tears   
   every time he looked at it.   
      
   When he was allowed to pursue his vocation Paul chose a new habitation on   
   the rockiest part of the mountain, where for the first three years he   
   suffered grievous temptations. A peasant sometimes brought him a little   
   food, but he mostly lived on what grew wild. The reputation of his holiness   
   spreading through the province, several men chose to live near him and built   
   there a laura of cells. Paul, who had been careless about all corporal   
   necessaries, was much concerned lest anything should be wanting to those   
   that lived under his direction. After twelve years his solitude was so much   
   broken into that he withdrew to another part of the mountains, whence he   
   visited his brethren from time to time to cheer and encourage them; he   
   sometimes took them into the forest to sing the Divine Office together in   
   the open air. When asked why he appeared sometimes so joyful, at other times   
   so sad, he answered, "When nothing diverts my thoughts from God, my heart   
   overflows with joy, so much that I often forget my food and everything else;   
   and when there are distractions, I am upset". Occasionally he disclosed   
   something of the wonderful communications, which passed between his soul and   
   God, and of the heavenly graces that he received in contemplation.   
      
   But St Paul wished for yet closer retirement, so he passed over to the isle   
   of Samos, and there concealed himself in a cave. But he was soon discovered   
   and so many flocked to him that he re-established three lauras that had been   
   ruined by the Saracens. The entreaties of the monks at Latros induced him to   
   return to his former cell there. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus   
   wrote frequently to him asking his advice, and often had reason to repent   
   when he did not follow it. Paul had a great tenderness for the poor and he   
   gave them more of his food and clothes than he could properly spare. Once he   
   would have sold himself for a slave to help some people in distress had he   
   not been stopped. On December 6 in 956, foreseeing that his death drew near,   
   he came down from his cell to the church, celebrated the Holy Mysteries more   
   early than usual and then took to his bed. He spent his time in prayer and   
   instructing his monks till his death, which fell on December 15, on which   
   day he is commemorated by the Greeks. He is sometimes referred to as St Paul   
   the Younger.   
      
   After having been printed for the first time in the Analecta Bollandiana,   
   vol. xi (1892), a still more carefully revised text was edited by Delehaye   
   in the volume Der Latmos, issued in 1913 by T. Wiegand and other scholars,   
   with abundant illustrations and archaeological comments. The Life of St   
   Paul, written by an anonymous disciple, is one of the most trustworthy of   
   Byzantine biographies. In Wiegand's volume it is supplemented by a panegyric   
   from MS. Vatican 704 previously unprinted. See also the Zeitschrift f. kath.   
   Theologie, vol. xviii (1894), pp. 365 seq., and the Revue des quest.   
   histor., vol. x (1893), pp. 49-85.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Oh, how great must be the love that the Sun of God bears to the poor! for He   
   chose the state of poverty. He wished to be called the teacher of the poor,   
   and counts most especially as done to Himself whatever is done for His poor.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And at midnight, Paul and Silas praying, praised God. And they that were in   
   prison, heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the   
   foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were   
   opened, and the bands of all were loosed.  (Acts 16:25-26)   
      
      
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   O SACRUM CONVIVIUM   
      
   O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received,   
   the memory of His Passion is renewed,   
   the mind is filled with grace,   
   and a pledge of future glory is given to us.   
      
   V. Thou didst give them bread from heaven:   
   R. Containing in itself all sweetness.   
      
   Let us pray. O God,   
   who under a wonderful Sacrament hast left us a   
   memorial of Thy Passion; grant us we beseech Thee,   
   so to reverence the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood,   
   that we may ever feel within ourselves the fruit of Thy Redemption:   
   Who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.   
      
   In Paschaltide the following prayer is said:   
      
   Pour upon us, O Lord, the Spirit of Thy love   
   to make us of one heart, whom, by Thy tender mercy,   
   Thou hast filled with the paschal sacrament.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)