From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - John 14:6 -   
      
       Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes   
   to the Father except through me."   
       __________________________   
      
       Jesus says he is the only way to God, the Father. Some people may argue   
   that this way is too narrow. In reality, it is wide enough for the whole   
   world, if the world chooses to accept it. Instead of worrying about how   
   limited it sounds to have only one way, we should be saying, "Thank you,   
   God, for providing a sure way to get to you!" As the way, Jesus is our path   
   to the Father. As the truth, he is the reality of all God's promises. As the   
   life, he joins his divine life to ours, both now and eternally.   
      
      
   <><><><><>   
   June 18th - SS. Marcus and Marcellianus, Martyrs   
      
   (d. 286)   
      
   Saint Marcus and Saint Marcellianus were twin brothers of an illustrious   
   family   
   in Rome, who had been converted to the Faith in their youth and were   
   honorably   
   married.   
      
   When Diocletian ascended the imperial throne in 284, the pagans raised   
   persecutions; the brothers were then thrown into prison and condemned to be   
   beheaded. Their friends obtained a delay of the execution for thirty days,   
   that   
   they might prevail on them to worship the false gods. Tranquillinus and   
   Martia,   
   their afflicted pagan parents, accompanied by their sons' wives and their   
   little   
   babes, endeavored to move them by the most tender entreaties and tears. But   
   Saint Sebastian, an officer of the emperor's household, arriving in Rome   
   soon   
   after their confinement, daily visited and encouraged them.   
      
   The issue of the conferences was the happy conversion of the father, mother,   
   and   
   wives, also of Nicostratus, the public stenographer, and soon afterwards of   
   Chromatius, the judge, who set the Saints at liberty and abdicating the   
   magistracy, retired into the country. Marcus and Marcellianus were concealed   
   by   
   a Christian officer of the imperial household, in his apartments in the   
   palace,   
   but they were betrayed by an apostate and re-imprisoned. Fabian, a judge who   
   had   
   succeeded Chromatius, condemned them to be bound to two pillars, their feet   
   nailed to them. In this posture they remained a day and a night, and on the   
   following day were stabbed with lances. Their martyrdom occurred in the year   
   286. Their tomb and that of their father, Saint Tranquillinus, was found in   
   Rome, in 1782, in the church of Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, adjoining   
   that of   
   the martyred pope, Saint Felix II. They are honored particularly in Spain,   
   where   
   the city of Badajoz escaped destruction by their intercession.   
      
   Reflection. We know not what we are until we have been tried; that love   
   alone is   
   sincere which has stood the proof. It costs nothing to say we love God above   
   all   
   things, but "persecution shows who is a hireling, and who a true pastor,"   
   says   
   Saint Bernard.   
      
   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).   
      
      
   Another Version   
   June 18th - Mark and Marcellian MM (RM)   
      
   Died c. 287; second feast on July 29. These twins were both married deacons   
   in Rome, who suffered martyrdom under Maximianus Herculeus. After they were   
   condemned and thrown into prison, their powerful friends convinced the judge   
   to delay their execution for thirty days, so that they might try to dissuade   
   the twins their present course. They were released into the custody of   
   Nicostratus, the public register. Their pagan parents, Tranquillinus and   
   Martia, their wives, and their children all tried to entreat them to   
   renounce their faith. Meanwhile, Saint Sebastian, visited the twins daily to   
   encourage them to persevere. With Sebastian's help, their parents, wives,   
   the wife of the judge Nicostratus, and Chromatius, were all converted.   
   Chromatius set his prisoners free, resigned his position, and retired to the   
   country. Castulus, a Christian officer, hid them in his apartments in the   
   palace, but they were betrayed by an apostate, Torquatus, and again taken   
   into custody. Chromatius's successor, Fabian, condemned them to be bound to   
   two pillars with their feet nailed to them. They hanged there for a full day   
   until they were pierced with lances. They were buried in the Arenarium two   
   miles from Rome between the Appian and Ardeatine roads. Their basilica in   
   the catacombs of Saint Balbina was rediscovered in 1902 (Benedictines,   
   Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the   
   imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but   
   rather   
   of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony   
   to   
   our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of the   
   hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.   
   --Saint Paul in his second letter to Saint Timothy   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer in honor of St. John the Baptist,   
      
   O glorious Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those   
   born of woman, although thou wast sanctified in thy mother's   
   womb and didst lead a most innocent life, nevertheless it was thy   
   will to retire into the wilderness, there to devote thyself to the   
   practice of austerity and penance; obtain for us of thy Lord the   
   grace to be wholly detached, at least in our hearts, from earthly   
   goods, and to practice Christian mortification with interior   
   recollection and with the spirit of holy prayer.  Our Father... Hail   
   Mary... Glory be...   
      
   O most zealous Apostle, who, without working any miracle on   
   others, but solely by the example of thy life of penance and the   
   power of thy word, didst draw after thee the multitudes, in order   
   to dispose them to receive the Messiah worthily and to listen to   
   His heavenly doctrine; grant that it may be given unto us, by   
   means of the example of a holy life and the exercise of every   
   good work, to bring many souls to God, but above all those souls   
   that are enveloped in the darkness of error and ignorance and are   
   led astray by vice.  Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   O Martyr invincible, who, for the honor of God and the salvation   
   of souls, didst with firmness and constancy withstand the impiety   
   of Herod even at the cost of thine own life, and didst rebuke him   
   openly for his wicked and dissolute life; by thy prayers obtain   
   for us a heart, brave and generous, in order that we may   
   overcome all human respect and openly profess our faith in loyal   
   obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ, our divine Master.   
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   V.  Pray for us, Saint John the Baptist, R.  That we may be made   
   worthy of the promises of Christ.   
      
   Let us pray.  O God, who hast made this day to be honorable in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)