From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Bear One Another's Burdens   
      The responsibility of love is that we bear one another's burdens. But   
   this responsibility, which is not an eternal one, leads doubtless to an   
   eternal blessedness in which there will be no burdens for us that we will be   
   required to bear for one another.   
      Now, however, while we are in this life, that is, on this journey, let us   
   bear one another's burdens so that we can achieve that life which is free of   
   every burden.   
   St. Augustine: -- 83 Diverse Questions, 71   
      
   Meditation for Troubled times:   
      God's spirit is all about you all day long. You have no thoughts, no   
   plans, no impulses and no emotions that He does not know about. You can hide   
   nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to that of the world   
   and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. God sees in   
   secret, but He rewards openly. If you are in harmony with the Divine Spirit,   
   doing your best to live the way you believe God wants you to live, you will   
   be at peace.   
      I pray that I may always feel God's presence. I pray that I may realize   
   this Presence constantly all through the day.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
      
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   April 8th - Saint Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours   
   (461-494)   
      
   Saint Perpetuus was the eighth Bishop of Tours, who governed that see for   
   more than thirty years, from 461 to 494. During all that time he labored by   
   zealous sermons, many synods and wholesome regulations, to lead souls to   
   virtue.   
      
   Saint Perpetuus had great veneration for the Saints and respect for their   
   relics; he adorned their shrines and enriched their churches. As there was a   
   continual succession of miracles at the tomb of Saint Martin, Perpetuus,   
   finding the church built by Saint Bricius too small for the concourse of   
   people coming there, directed its enlargement. When the building was   
   finished, the good bishop solemnized the dedication of this large new   
   church, which a writer of that time said was one of the marvels of the world   
   and worthy to be compared with the temple of Solomon. The translation of the   
   body of Saint Martin was carried out on the 4th of July in 491. It is   
   believed that either Saint Martin or his Angel assisted on this occasion,   
   for the coffin was so heavy that no means were found to move it, until an   
   unknown elderly gentleman came forward and offered his aid, immediately   
   efficacious.   
      
   Saint Perpetuus had made and signed his last will, which is still extant, on   
   the 1st of March, 475, a number of years before his death. In this testament   
   of love, he remitted all debts owing to him; and having bequeathed to his   
   church his library and several farms, and establishing a fund for the   
   maintenance of lamps and the purchase of sacred vessels, he declared the   
   poor his heirs for all the rest. He added exhortations to concord and piety,   
   and begged a remembrance in prayer. His ancient epitaph equals him to the   
   great Saint Martin. He died on the 8th of April, 494.   
      
   Reflection. The sting of poverty, says a spiritual writer, is allayed even   
   more by a word of true sympathy than by the alms we give. Alms given coldly   
   and harshly irritate rather than soothe. Even when we cannot give, words of   
   kindness are like a precious balm; and when we can give, they are salt and   
   seasoning for our alms.   
      
   Source: 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: New York, 1894).   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   "O ye souls who wish to go on with so much safety and consolation, if you   
   knew how pleasing to God is suffering, and how much it helps in acquiring   
   other good things, you would never seek consolation in anything; but you   
   would rather look upon it as a great happiness to bear the Cross after the   
   Lord"   
   l--St. John of the Cross   
      
   Blessed William the Abbot saw, one night in a dream, some angels who were   
   weaving a crown of marvelous richness and beauty; and when he asked them for   
   whom they were making it, they said that it was for him, and would be   
   finished when he had suffered enough.   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  April - Patience)   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved   
   much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less.  (Luke 7:47)   
      
      
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   An Office of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ   
      
   At that time, Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers platted a   
   crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and they put on him a purple robe,   
   and said, "Hail, King of the Jews." And they smote Him with their hands. And   
   they spat upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head.   
      
   And the soldiers took Jesus, and He, bearing His Cross, went forth into a   
   place called the place of the skull, where they crucified Him, and two   
   others with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.   
      
   After this, Jesus, knowing all things which should come to pass, said, "I   
   thirst." And they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and   
   put it to His mouth.   
      
   And when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink, but said, "It is   
   finished." And He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.   
      
   And immediately the earth did quake, and the sun was darkened. And the veil   
   of the Temple was rent, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and   
   those who slept arose. Which things, when the centurion saw, he said,   
   "Truly, this was the Son of God."   
      
   At length one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith   
   came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and we know   
   that his record is true.   
      
   V. The Lord be with you.   
      
   R. And with thy spirit.   
      
   Let us pray   
      
   Lord Jesus Christ, who for us sinners didst place Thy hands and Thy feet and   
   Thy whole body upon the wood of the Cross; and didst bear the crown of   
   thorns, set upon Thy head by the soldiers in dishonor of Thy most holy body;   
   and hanging upon the Cross didst suffer five wounds for the sake of us   
   sinners, and hast redeemed us by Thy sacred Blood, grant us we beseech Thee,   
   O Lord, this day, and every day, the practice of penitence, abstinence,   
   patience, humility, and chastity, and light, sense, understanding, and   
   knowledge of the truth, even unto the end. Through Thee, Jesus Christ,   
   Saviour of the world, King of glory, who, together with the Father and the   
   Holy Spirit, livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.   
      
   POPE JOHN XXII   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)