From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 11th - St. Benedict, Abbot, Founder   
      
   Born in Nursia, Italy, c. 490; died at Monte Cassino, 543; feast day   
   formerly   
   March 21.   
      
        "If you are really a servant of Jesus Christ, let the chain of love   
   hold   
   you firm in your resolve, not a chain of iron."   
      
        "Idleness is the enemy of the soul."   
      
        "The first degree of humility is obedience without delay."   
   -St. Benedict   
      
   Nearly everything we know about St. Benedict comes from the Dialogues of   
   Pope   
   Saint Gregory the Great and from what we can deduce from his Rule.   
      
   In the days when monasticism was regarded as the most religious way of life,   
   though it led to many abuses and encouraged the view that the Christian   
   could   
   best serve God by withdrawing from the world, it was St. Benedict who   
   brought to   
   it a new sense of order and significance. He was born in central Italy of   
   good   
   family, was educated at Rome, at 14 years of age joined a Christian group   
   outside the city, and afterwards lived as a hermit in a mountain cave.   
   During   
   this period he made a close study of the Scriptures, and for the rest of his   
   life, in complete self-dedication, gave all that God asked. "The finger of   
   God   
   had only to point, and he followed whatever the cost." The cave was a hidden   
   retreat upon a barren mountainside, its whereabouts known only to a single   
   friend who brought him food in secret, lowering it by rope over the mountain   
   edge. After three years he was chosen by the monks of a neighboring   
   monastery to   
   be their abbot, but so strict was his discipline and so stern his rebukes of   
   their laxity that they sought to remove him, even attempting to poison him,   
   and   
   he was glad to escape to his mountain refuge.   
      
   But now he could not be alone, for disciples flocked to him. They came from   
   every rank of life, and his cave was no longer convenient in view of the   
   demands   
   made upon him. He was subjected also to the jealous persecution of a local   
   priest. In 527, therefore, he traveled to Monte Cassino, 85 miles southeast   
   of   
   Rome, on the summit of which stood an altar to Apollo; there he tore down   
   the   
   pagan shrine and established the greatest and most famous of all   
   monasteries,   
   which became the home of the Benedictine Order. The place itself was   
   symbolic,   
   for as on the massive rock he built a temple to God, so also upon enduring   
   foundations he built a temple of the Spirit. When he died there were 14   
   Benedictine communities, and by the 14th century there were over 30,000.   
      
   At Monte Cassino he established his famous Rule which changed and renewed   
   the   
   monastic life of Europe. He provided against vagabondage, immorality, and   
   other   
   evils then prevalent in religious houses. A monk was to be a soldier of God,   
   "a   
   member of a spiritual garrison holding duty for Christ in a hostile world";   
   and   
   to be always on duty. It was a great and happy brotherhood with a strong   
   family   
   unity, so that wherever its members went they felt a common bond, and drew   
   their   
   strength from their home at Cassino, built upon the rock.   
      
   He believed in the moral value of work; for idleness, he said, is hostile to   
   the   
   soul, and manual labor is part of the true pattern and glory of life. Thus   
   work   
   and study were joyfully intermingled, and each of his monasteries became a   
   colony of God, a mission station with a civilizing influence in the dark   
   night   
   of Northern Europe. In lands conquered by invaders with the sword, he and   
   his   
   followers conquered by the Cross, and brought to men the arts and virtues of   
   peace. "The chaos of the empire was the opportunity of the Church." The   
   ruins of   
   Fountains, Rievaulx, Tintern, and other abbeys indicate the size of these   
   Christian settlements, and Canterbury itself, like many of our cathedrals,   
   was a   
   Benedictine foundation (Gill).   
      
   In the Dialogues the story is ended: "I had told you that Benedict wanted   
   something and could not attain it. If we consider the matter there is no   
   doubt   
   that he wanted the sky to remain as clear as it had been when he arrive; but   
   his   
   will was opposed by a miracle which the heart of a woman obtained from   
   Almighty   
   God. And it is not astonishing that he should be overcome by this woman who   
   desired to be with her brother for a longer time, for it is written in St.   
   John:   
   'God is love.' And it was by the just decree of God that she, who loved   
   more,   
   was the more powerful."   
      
   From the Rule of St. Benedict:   
      
   "Help those who are in trouble.   
      
   "Console the afflicted.   
      
   "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.   
      
   "Speak the truth from your heart as from your mouth.   
      
   "Attribute the good that you find in yourself to God, and not to yourself.   
      
   "Desire eternal life with all the ardor of your soul.   
      
   "Listen willingly to the Holy Scriptures.   
      
   "Daily confess your past faults to God in your prayers with tears and   
   groans,   
   and in the future correct them.   
      
   "In all things obey the instructions of the Abbot even if, God forbid, he   
   should   
   go astray in his works, remembering this precept of the Lord: Do what they   
   say,   
   but not what they do.   
      
   "Do not try to pass yourself off as a saint before being one, but become one   
   first, so that it may be said more truly of you that you are a Saint.   
      
   "Honor those who are old.   
      
   "Love those who are younger.   
      
   "Pray for your enemies in the love of Christ.   
      
   "Make peace, before the setting of the sun, with those from whom you have   
   been   
   separated by discord.   
      
   "And never despair of the mercy of God." (Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is important that you choose your career with care, so that you may   
   really   
   follow the vocation that God has destined for you. No day should pass   
   without   
   some prayer to this end. Often repeat with St. Paul: "Lord, what will you   
   have   
   me do?   
   -St. John Bosco   
      
   Bible Quote   
   He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the   
   glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him.   
   (John   
   7:18)   
      
      
      
   <><><><>   
   OFFERING OF DAILY ACTIONS   
      
   ETERNAL Father, by virtue of Thine generosity and love, I ask that   
   Thou accept all my actions, and that Thou dost multiply their value in   
   favor of every soul in Purgatory. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.   
      
      
   PRAYER FOR DECEASED PARENTS   
      
   O GOD, Who hast commanded us to honor our father and mother,   
   in Thy mercy have pity on the souls of my father and mother,   
   and forgive them their trespasses; and make me to see them again   
   in the joy of everlasting brightness. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)