From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 15th - St. James of Nisibis   
   (d. 350)   
      
   This eminent Saint and glorious Doctor of the Syrian Church was a native of   
   Nisibis, a city near the border of the Roman Empire and Persia. In his   
   youth,   
   entering the world, he trembled at the sight of its vices and the slippery   
   downhill path of its pleasures. He thought it wise to adopt retirement, that   
   he   
   might gain strength and afterwards be better able to stand his ground in the   
   field. He therefore chose the highest and most inaccessible mountain for his   
   dwelling place, with a cave for shelter in winter, while for the rest of the   
   year he lived in the forest, continually exposed to the open air.   
   Notwithstanding his desire to live unknown to men, he was discovered. He was   
   highly favored with the gifts of prophecy and miracles, and many were not   
   afraid   
   to climb the rugged rocks that they might recommend themselves to his   
   prayers,   
   and receive the comfort of his spiritual advice.   
      
   After a number of years he left his solitude to enter Persia, where he knew   
   that   
   there was a virtually infinite multitude of idolaters. There his prayers   
   wrought   
   miracles which changed the attitude of a considerable number. When he   
   returned   
   to Nisibis, he found the bishop's palace vacant after the death of the   
   prelate.   
   The clergy and people unanimously chose Saint James to replace him,   
   overcoming   
   his humility by their persistent persuasion.   
      
   One day, as the bishop was traveling, he was accosted by a gang of beggars   
   intending to extort money from him under the pretext of having to bury one   
   of   
   their companions. The latter had stretched out on the ground as though dead.   
   The   
   holy man gave them what they asked, and "offering up supplications to God as   
   for   
   a soul departed, he prayed that His Divine Majesty would pardon that man the   
   sins he had committed while he lived, and admit him into the company of the   
   Saints." As soon as the Saint had passed on, the beggars called out to their   
   companion to get up and receive his share of the booty. How amazed they were   
   to   
   find him genuinely dead! Seized with sudden fear and grief, they cried out   
   in   
   the utmost consternation and immediately ran after the man of God, casting   
   themselves at his feet and confessing their fraud. They begged his   
   forgiveness   
   and besought him by his prayers to restore their unhappy companion to life,   
   and   
   this the Saint did.   
      
   The most famous miracle of our Saint was that by which he protected his   
   native   
   city from the barbarians. Sapor II, the haughty King of Persia, was   
   besieging   
   Nisibis with the whole strength of his empire while Saint James was its   
   bishop.   
   The prelate would not pray for the destruction of anyone, but implored   
   divine   
   Mercy that the city might be delivered from the calamities of so terrible a   
   siege. Then, going to the top of a high tower and turning his gaze towards   
   the   
   enemy, he looked down upon the prodigious multitude of men and beasts,   
   covering   
   the whole country. He prayed, "Lord, Thou art able by the weakest means to   
   humble the pride of Thy enemies; defeat these multitudes by an army of   
   gnats."   
   God heard the humble prayer of His servant. He had hardly finished speaking   
   these words, when whole clouds of gnats and flies came pouring down upon the   
   Persians, entering into the elephants' trunks and the horses' ears and   
   nostrils.   
   The animals chafed and foamed and threw their riders, and the entire army   
   was   
   cast into confusion and disorder. A famine and pestilence followed and   
   carried   
   off a great number of the invaders. The King of Persia, after remaining more   
   than three months before the walls, set fire to all his engines of war and   
   abandoned the siege; he retreated, having lost twenty thousand of his men.   
      
   When Sapor was again repulsed from outside the walls of Nisibis in 359, he   
   turned his arms against the neighboring city of Amidus, seized that   
   stronghold,   
   and put the garrison and most of the inhabitants to death by the sword. The   
   citizens of Nisibis attributed their preservation from this second attack to   
   the   
   intercession of their glorious patron, Saint James, although he had already   
   gone   
   to his reward. He died in the year 350.   
      
   Sources: 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); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul   
   Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 8.   
      
      
      
   Saint Quotes:   
   "Look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul   
   to   
   God with intense fervor and glowing love."   
      
   "Thorns and cross and nails and lance,   
           Wounds, our rich inheritance . . .   
           May these all our spirits fill,   
           And with love's devotion thrill . . .   
           Christ, by coward hands betrayed,   
           Christ, for us a captive made,   
           Christ upon the bitter tree,   
           Slain for man-all praise to thee."   
    -Saint Bonaventure   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to   
   them who are the called according to his purpose.  (Romans 8:28 )   
      
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The Fiery Prayer for Apostles of the Latter Times   
   By - St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort   
      
   2nd Day   
   "Detachment from all Earthly Things"   
      
      
   Lord Jesus, Remember Thy congregation. Remember to give to Thy Mother a new   
   company who, through Her, will renew all things and thus, through Mary,   
   complete   
   the years of grace just as, through Her, Thou did begin them.   
      
   Give me children, otherwise I shall die (Gen. 30:1): Give to Thy Mother   
   children, servants, or let me die. Give Thy Mother children. It is for Thy   
   Mother's sake that I pray to Thee. Remember that Thou did dwell within her   
   womb,   
   were nourished at Her breasts, and reject me not. Remember whose Son Thou   
   art   
   and hear me. Remember what She is to Thee and what Thou art to Her, and   
   grant my   
   request. What is it I am asking from Thee? Nothing for myself, all for Thy   
   glory. What am I asking of Thee? What Thou can, and even, I dare say, what   
   Thou   
   should grant me, being as Thou art the true God to Whom all power has been   
   given   
   in heaven and on earth and the best of all children, for Thou loved Thy   
   Mother   
   with an infinite love.   
      
   What am I asking of Thee?   
      
   Children: Priests, free with Thy freedom, detached from all things, without   
   father or mother, or brothers or sisters, without relations according to the   
   world, without means, without worry, without cares, and even without any   
   will of   
   their own.   
      
   Children: Slaves of Thy love and of Thy will: men according to Thy heart,   
   who,   
   without self-will to stain and hold them back, accomplish all Thy designs   
   and   
   crush all Thy enemies; other Davids, with the staff of the Cross and the   
   sling   
   of the holy Rosary in their hands.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)