From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 23rd - Serenus the Gardener M (RM)   
    (Also known as Cerneuf, Sirenus of Billom)   
      
   Born in Greece; died February 23, c. 303. The garden represents the   
   continual   
   progress of the Christian on the path of virtue. Plants reach upwards and   
   continue growing until they reach the maturity that God has prescribed for   
   them.   
   All the nourishment they are given should be used to this end, any   
   superfluous   
   growth is a waste and a kind of disease. So it is for Christians. Everything   
   should carry us toward the perfection that God has ordained for us, the   
   reason   
   for which He made each individual. Every desire of our souls, every action   
   should be a step toward God. When all our energies are directed toward God,   
   we   
   can make great progress.   
      
   The saints possessed heroic virtue because all their actions were regulated   
   by   
   the yearning for perfection: their meals, their studies, their conversations   
   and   
   visits, their business and toil. Every action had the love of God as the   
   motive   
   and the accomplishment of His will their only ambition. Our desire for God   
   and   
   tender affection for others in His name allow all our actions to be   
   consecrated   
   to God. A virtuous life is the sweetest, most beautiful flower we can offer   
   to   
   our Lord.   
      
   According to his probably fictitious legend, Saint Serenus left his home and   
   friends in Greece to serve God in an ascetic life of celibacy, penance, and   
   prayer. He went to Sirmium in Pannonia (Mitrovica, Yugoslavia), where he   
   bought   
   a garden to cultivate with his own hands. He lived on the fruits and herbs   
   it   
   produced.   
      
   When the persecution of Christians began in the area, Serenus hid himself   
   for   
   some months but later returned to his garden. One day a woman and her two   
   daughters took a walk through his garden. When asked what she wanted, the   
   lady   
   replied that she particularly liked visiting it. Thinking that she was up to   
   mischief because the Romans normally rested during this noon hour, he asked   
   her   
   to leave and return at a more proper time.   
      
   She took affront and wrote about it to her husband, a guard in the legion of   
   Emperor Maximian. The husband went to the emperor to demand justice, saying,   
   "While we are waiting on your majesty's person, our wives in distant   
   countries   
   are insulted." The emperor gave him a letter to take to the governor of   
   Pannonia   
   to enable him to obtain satisfaction and he set off for Sirmium.   
      
   Upon receiving it the governor had Serenus brought before him and questioned   
   about the insult to the wife of an officer. Serenus could remember no   
   insult,   
   then he recalled the woman, "I remember that, some time ago, a lady came   
   into my   
   garden at an unseasonable hour, with a design, as she said, to take a walk:   
   and   
   I took the liberty to tell her it was against decency for one of her sex and   
   quality to be abroad at such an hour."   
      
   This caused the officer to blush at his wife's action, which was too plain   
   an   
   indication of her wicked purpose, and he dropped his accusation against   
   Serenus.   
   But the governor, understanding by this answer that Serenus was a man of   
   virtue,   
   suspected that he might be a Christian and therefore continued to question   
   him.   
   Serenus admitted that he was a Christian.   
      
   "Where have you concealed yourself? And how have you avoided sacrificing to   
   the   
   gods?" Serenus replied, "It has pleased God to reserve me for this present   
   time.   
   It seemed awhile ago as if he rejected me as a stone unfit to enter his   
   building, but he has the goodness to take me now to be placed in it; I am   
   ready   
   to suffer all things for his name, that I may have a part in his kingdom   
   with   
   his saints." For this, Serenus was sentenced to beheading.   
      
   The acta of Serenus, attributed to Saint Jerome and published at Lucca,   
   Italy,   
   by Florentinius, joined Serenus to 62 others martyred at Sirmium. The Roman   
   Martyrology says that there were 72 others (Benedictines, Delaney,   
   Encyclopedia,   
   Husenbeth).   
      
   Saint Quotes:   
   "To change your mind from good to bad is the height of absurdity. True   
   goodness   
   changes from evil to righteousness."   
   -Saint Polycarp   
      
   "God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, increase us in faith and truth and   
   gentleness, and grant us part and lot among His saints."   
   -Prayer of Saint Polycarp.   
      
   Today is also the feast of St. Polycarp   
      
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   This is the prayer St. Polycarp prayed before he died:   
      
   Lord, almighty God, Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ,   
   through whom we have come to the knowledge of Thyself, God of angels, of   
   powers, of all creation, of all the race of saints who live in Thy sight, I   
   bless Thee for judging me worthy of this day, this hour, so that in the   
   company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ, Thine anointed one,   
   and so rise again to eternal life in soul and body, immortal through the   
   power of the Holy Ghost.   
      
   May I be received among the martyrs in Thy presence today as a rich and   
   pleasing sacrifice.  God of truth, stranger to falsehood, Thou hast   
   prepared this and revealed it to me and now Thou hast fulfilled Thy promise.   
      
   I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee through the   
   eternal priest of Heaven, Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son. Through him be   
   glory to Thee, together with him and the Holy Ghost, now and forever. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)