From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 18th - Saint Odon Of Cluny, Abbot   
   (Also known as Eudes)   
      
   (d. 942)   
      
   On Christmas Eve of the year 877, a pious but childless Christian nobleman   
   of   
   Aquitaine implored Our Lord, by the fecundity of His Holy Mother and His   
   Incarnation, to grant him a son. His prayer was heard; Odon was born, and   
   his   
   grateful father, in a prayer offered him - still an infant in his arms - to   
   Saint Martin of Tours (d. 400) to be his spiritual son. Odon was later   
   taught by   
   a wise priest, then was placed in the court of the Count of Anjou and that   
   of   
   the Duke of Aquitaine. There he was influenced by the passions which reign   
   in   
   courts, and neglected his prayers to think only of games, hunting, and   
   military   
   pursuits. But God did not abandon him, and he was haunted in his dreams by   
   the   
   dangers of a disordered life. He prayed to the Blessed Virgin and begged Her   
   one   
   Christmas Eve to lead him on the narrow path of sanctity.   
      
   He was then sixteen years old, and the next day he fell ill with a sickness   
   which increased and for three years kept him on the verge of death. When his   
   father told him he had consecrated him to Saint Martin, Odon renewed this   
   consecration and promised to enter into his service; suddenly then his   
   headaches   
   left him and he recovered from his illness.   
      
   He went to Tours to serve in the church of Saint Martin for a time. But when   
   a   
   hermitage was built nearby he retired there to devote himself to prayer and   
   study, while continuing to visit the tomb of Saint Martin every night. He   
   began   
   to study the Scriptures and abandoned all pagan readings. Later he was   
   inspired   
   to enter the monastery of Baume in the diocese of Besançon, and there he   
   received the habit from Saint Bernon, the abbot, in the year 909. He was   
   charged   
   with the instruction of novices and boarding students. When later he   
   returned   
   home on a visit to his parents, they were so touched by his words that   
   despite   
   their age they renounced the world and entered a monastery. When Odon   
   returned   
   to Baume he was ordained a priest.   
      
   When Saint Bernon, who had governed six monasteries, died, three of those   
   were   
   entrusted to Saint Odon; these were Cluny, newly founded in 910, Massay, and   
   Deols. He resided in Cluny, of which he is often titled the Founder, because   
   he   
   organized and enlarged this new house. His reputation attracted a large   
   number   
   of vocations. His special care was for children; at that period the schools   
   had   
   taken refuge in the cathedrals and monasteries. He watched with gentleness   
   over   
   the habits, studies, and repose of these dear children. He personally taught   
   them as well as the monks. The Rule of Saint Benedict, providing for the   
   education of children as well as the formation of monks, was followed   
   zealously.   
   Many alms were given to the poor, without concern for the morrow. The   
   charity of   
   Cluny was so abundant that in one year food was distributed to more than   
   seven   
   thousand indigent persons.   
      
   Saint Odon visited Rome three times; there he reformed a monastery, and   
   later in   
   France he submitted several abbeys to the discipline of Cluny. These were   
   organized into a federation under the sole abbot of Cluny, with great unity   
   of   
   statutes and regime. It was said that "from Benevent to the Atlantic Ocean,   
   the   
   most important monasteries of Italy and Gaul rejoiced in being under his   
   commandment." After celebrating the feast of Saint Martin at Tours in 942,   
   Saint   
   Odon fell ill; and having exhorted all the religious who had come there to   
   see   
   him and learn how to be regular in their observance, he blessed them and   
   gave up   
   his soul to God. He was buried at Tours in the church of Saint Julian.   
      
   Reflection: "It needs only for a Catholic to show devotion to any Saint,"   
   says   
   Father Newman, "in order to receive special benefits from his intercession."   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et   
   Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "True knowledge is the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient   
   constitution of   
   the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of   
   the   
   body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they   
   have   
   handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto   
   us,   
   being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very   
   complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor suffering   
   curtailment in the truths which she believes; and it consists in reading the   
   word of God without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in   
   harmony with the Scriptures, both without danger and without blasphemy; and   
   above all, it consists in the pre-eminent gift of love, which is more   
   precious   
   than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other   
   gifts of God."   
   -St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4:33:8(A.D. 180)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   22 And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God. 23 Amen I say   
   to   
   you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast   
   into   
   the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he   
   saith shall be done; it shall be done unto him. 24 Therefore I say unto you,   
   all   
   things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and   
   they shall come unto you.   (Mark 11:22-24)   
      
      
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   A Morning Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Christ   
      
   Dear Lord, I adore Your Sacred Heart, which I desire to enter with acts of   
   love, praise, adoration and thanksgiving. I offer You my own heart as I sigh   
   to You from its very depths, asking that You will work through me in all   
   that I do this day; thus may I draw You closer to me each day. I offer You   
   all the crosses and sufferings of the world, in union with Your life on   
   earth, in expiation for sins. Please join my every action and heartbeat to   
   the pulsations of Your Heart. I unite all my works of this day to those   
   labors You performed while You were on earth, bathing them in Your precious   
   Blood, and I offer them to the Heavenly Father so that many souls may be   
   saved. - Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)