From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   March 24th - St. Irenaeus of Sirmium   
      
   Died 304; feast day formerly March 25 (due to an error in the Roman   
   Martyrology)   
   and originally on April 6, the date of his death. Saint Irenaeus, bishop of the   
   capital of Pannonia, suffered martyrdom under Diocletian at Sirmium (Mitrovica)   
   in Serbia near Budapest. His acta are authentic and most touching. These relate   
   that Irenaeus was a handsome young bishop, who was arrested and tried before   
   Governor Probus of Pannonia. When the governor informed him of his civic   
   obligation to sacrifice to the gods, Irenaeus answered: "The law of my God   
   commands me rather to suffer all torments than to sacrifice to the gods." When   
   threatened with torture, Irenaeus responds, "You cannot do me a greater   
   pleasure; for by that means you will make me partake of the sufferings of my   
   Savior. When prodded on the rack, Irenaeus says, "I sacrifice to my God, by   
   confessing his holy name, and so have I always sacrificed to him."   
      
   The torture was all the greater because Irenaeus' entire family was gathered   
   round him, expressing great concern for his well-being. His children embraced   
   his feet, crying out: "Father, dear father, have pity on yourself and on us."   
   His weeping wife threw herself about his neck, tenderly embraced him, and   
   begged   
   him to save himself for her sake, his innocent children, and the pledges of   
   their mutual love. His sobbing mother sighed and cried, together with their   
   servants, neighbors, and friends. Difficult as it was, Irenaeus recalled our   
   Savior's words, "If anyone renounce me before men, I will renounce him before   
   the Father who is in Heaven."   
      
   The governor tried to use his family to tempt him to sacrifice out of   
   compassion   
   for the many who mourned his fate. Unmoved, Irenaeus was sent to prison, where   
   he was repeatedly tormented. During his second hearing, the governor asked if   
   he   
   had living relatives. Irenaeus answered, no. Probus then questioned, "Who then   
   were those that wept for you at your first examination?" Irenaeus replied from   
   Scripture: "Our Lord Jesus Christ hath said: 'He that loves father or mother,   
   wife or children, brothers or relations more than me is not worthy of me.' So,   
   when I lift up my eyes to contemplate that God whom I adore and the joys he   
   hath   
   promised to those who faithfully serve him, I forget that I am a father, a   
   husband, a son, a master, a friend."   
      
   Probus said: "But you do not therefore cease to be so. Sacrifice at least for   
   their sakes."   
      
   Irenaeus replied: "My children will not lose much by my death; for I leave them   
   for Father that same God whom they adore with me; so let nothing hinder you   
   from   
   executing the orders of your emperor upon me."   
      
   Probus: "Don't throw yourself away. I cannot avoid condemning you."   
      
   Irenaeus: "You cannot do me a greater favor, or give me a more agreeable   
   pleasure."   
      
   Probus then sentenced him: "I order that Irenaeus, for disobeying the emperor's   
   commands, be cast into the river."   
      
   Irenaeus replied: "After so many threats, I expected something extraordinary,   
   and you content yourself with drowning me. How comes this? You do me an injury;   
   for you deprive me of the means of showing the world how much Christians, who   
   have a lively faith, despise death, though attended with the most cruel   
   torments." The enraged Probus added that he should be beheaded first. Irenaeus   
   returned thanks to God as for a second victory.   
      
   His last words were: "Lord Jesus Christ, who deigned to suffer for the world's   
   salvation, let Your heavens open that Your angels may take up the soul of Your   
   servant Irenaeus, who suffers all this for Your name and for the people formed   
   of your Catholic Church of Sirmium. I ask and implore Your mercy to receive me   
   and to strengthen them in Your faith." Thereafter, he was taken to the bridge   
   of   
   Diana, stripped, beheaded, and thrown into the river (Attwater2, Benedictines,   
   Farmer, Husenbeth).   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself.  (Matthew 16:24)   
      
   "Make it your constant effort to mortify and trample underfoot your own will,   
   to   
   such a degree as not to satisfy it in anything, if It be possible. Be careful,   
   therefore, to desire and rejoice that it may be often crossed; and when you see   
   anyone oppose it either in temporal or spiritual things, follow his will rather   
   than your own, if only his be good, even though your own be better. For,   
   contending with another, by lessening your humility, tranquillity, and peace,   
   will always inflict upon you a loss greater than the advantage brought by any   
   exercise of virtue performed through your own will, in opposition to   
   another's" -St. Vincent Ferrer   
      
   St. Catherine of Genoa practiced this. She loved to submit her preference to   
   that of others, in all things; and if a wish to pursue any course arose in her   
   own mind, it was sufficient to make her avoid it.   
      
    When Father Thomas Sanchez would go to his Superiors to make a request, he   
   used   
   first to ask God, if it might be according to His pleasure, to move their   
   hearts   
   to refuse it.   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  March - Mortification)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   14 Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.   
   15 And the Jews wondered, saying: How doth this man know letters, having never   
   learned? 16 Jesus answered them, and said: My doctrine is not mine, but his   
   that   
   sent me. (John 7:14-16)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The first glorious mystery prayer of the Eucharistic Rosary, to   
   be offered before the Blessed Sacrament:   
      
   The Resurrection of Our Lord, offered for Faith, Hope, and   
   Charity:   
      
   O Christ Jesus!  Thou comest forth glorious from the tomb,   
   victorious over all infernal powers; henceforth sufferings and   
   death have lost their empire over Thy glorious humanity.   
   What a consolation for us to know that, though confined to   
   the humble condition of Thy sacrament, Thou art in full   
   possession of the life, joy, and glory of Thy resurrection!   
      
   We adore Thee, O immortal King of ages, and we beg of   
   Thee, through the intercession of Thy holy Mother a lively and   
   loving faith in Thy real and life-giving presence in the Blessed   
   Sacrament.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)