From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Wanting No Share in Comfort (4)   
   A man must fight long and bravely against himself before he learns to master   
   himself fully and to direct all his affections toward God. When he trusts in   
   himself, he easily takes to human consolation. The true lover of Christ,   
   however, who sincerely pursues virtue, does not fall back upon consolations   
   nor seek such pleasures of sense, but prefers severe trials and hard labors   
   for the sake of Christ.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 9   
      
   Meditation for troubled times:   
     It is not your circumstances that need altering so much as yourself. After   
   you have changed, conditions will naturally change. Spare no effort to   
   become all that God would have you become. Follow every good leading of your   
   conscience. Take each day with no backward look. Face the day's problems   
   with God, and seek God's help and guidance as to what you should do in every   
   situation that may arise. Never look back. Never leave until tomorrow the   
   thing that you are guided to do today.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
      
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   June 22nd - St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, Confessor   
      
   Paulinus was of a family which boasted a long line of senators, prefects and   
   consuls of Rome, and he was educated with great care. His genius and   
   eloquence in oratory, prose and verse were the admiration of all the   
   brilliant Christian minds of his time, including Saint Gregory the Great,   
   Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, and Saint Martin of Tours. It   
   is believed that Saint Ambrose would have chosen him to replace him as   
   bishop of Milan, but Saint Paulinus was far from Milan when Saint Ambrose   
   died. He said of him that Christians should follow and imitate Saint   
   Paulinus, and that the greatest good fortune of the century in which they   
   were living was to be witness to the life of so rare and admirable a man.   
      
   Saint Paulinus, at first Roman Consul and then Prefect or Governor of Rome,   
   had more than doubled his wealth by his marriage with a virtuous Spanish   
   noblewoman; he was one of the wealthiest and most honored men of his time,   
   possessing domains in several nations of Europe. Though he was the chosen   
   friend of Saints, he was still only a catechumen, and trying to serve two   
   masters. But God drew him to Himself along the way of sorrows and trials.   
   The first and only child of Paulinus and Theresia died shortly after birth.   
   Saint Paulinus received baptism soon afterwards, at the age of thirty-eight,   
   from the bishop of Bordeaux, Saint Delphin; then he withdrew into Spain to   
   be at liberty to pray in solitude.   
      
   He was ordained a priest in Barcelona, and afterwards retired to Nola in   
   Campania. And then, in consort with his holy wife, he liberated all his   
   slaves, sold all his vast estates in various parts of the empire,   
   distributing their proceeds so widely and generously that Saint Jerome says   
   both East and West were filled with his alms. In Nola he built the   
   magnificent Church of Saint Felix and served it night and day, living a life   
   of extreme abstinence and toil. He and his wife agreed to live as brother   
   and sister; they exchanged their silver utensils for those of wood and   
   pottery, and wore robes of rude cloth, practicing from that time on a   
   genuine poverty. Certain highly-placed worldly persons were very much   
   offended by this abrupt change in the way of life of these persons of such   
   great dignity.   
      
   Nonetheless, in 409 Saint Paulinus was chosen Bishop of Nola, and for more   
   than thirty years so ruled as to be conspicuous, in an age blessed with many   
   great and wise bishops. Saint Gregory the Great tells us that when the   
   Vandals of Africa made a descent on Campania, Paulinus spent all he had in   
   relieving the distress of his people and redeeming them from slavery.   
   Finally, when all had been disposed of, there came to him a poor widow,   
   whose only son had been taken away by the son-in-law of the Vandal king.   
   "What I have I give you, said the Saint to her; "we will go to Africa and   
   you will offer me to the prince, saying I am one of your slaves, in exchange   
   for the prisoner." Her resistance once overcome, they went, and Paulinus was   
   accepted in place of the widow's son and employed as gardener. After a time   
   the king discovered, by divine interposition, that this valuable slave of   
   his son-in-law was the renowned Bishop of Nola. He at once set him free,   
   granting him also the freedom of all the townsmen of Nola who were in   
   slavery.   
      
   One who knew Saint Paulinus well says he was "meek as Moses, as priestly as   
   Aaron, innocent as Samuel, tender as David, wise as Solomon, apostolic as   
   Peter, loving as John, cautious as Thomas, brilliant as Stephen, fervent as   
   Apollos." Saint Paulinus died in 431. His holy remains were transferred   
   several times but restored to the cathedral of Nola in 1908.   
      
   Reflection. "Go to Campania," writes Saint Augustine; "there study Paulinus,   
   that choice servant of God. With what generosity, with what even greater   
   humility, has he flung from him the burden of the world's grandeurs to take   
   on the yoke of Christ!"   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 7; 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 admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble   
   sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles   
   Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the little form of   
   bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts   
   before Him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by Him.   
   Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He Who   
   gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally"   
   --St. Francis, Letter to the Entire Order   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    And he spoke also to them a similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? Do   
   they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but   
   every one shall be perfect, if he be as his master.  (Luke 6:39-40)   
      
      
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   PRAYER TO OBTAIN THE GRACE OF ALL THE   
   WORLD'S MASSES   
      
   Eternal Father we humbly offer Thee our poor presence   
   and that of the whole of humanity from the beginning to   
   the end of the world at all the Masses that ever have or   
   ever will be prayed. We offer Thee all the pains, suffering,   
   prayers, sacrifices, joys and relaxations of our lives, in   
   union with those of our dear Lord Jesus here on earth.   
   May the Most Precious Blood of Christ, all His blood and   
   wounds and agony save us, through the sorrowful and   
   Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Amen! (This prayer should be   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)