From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - John 3:19-21 -   
      
       This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved   
   darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does   
   evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his   
   deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,   
   so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through   
   God.   
   _________________________________________________________________   
      
   Many people don't want their lives exposed to God's light because they are   
   afraid of what will be revealed. They don't want to be changed. Don't be   
   surprised when these same people are threatened by your desire to obey God   
   and do what is right, because they are afraid that the light in you may   
   expose some of the darkness in their lives. Rather than giving in to   
   discouragement, keep praying that they will come to see how much better it   
   is to live in light than darkness.   
      
      
   <><><><><>   
   August 18th - Saint Agapetus, Martyr   
      
   (d. 274)   
      
   Saint Agapetus suffered in his youth a cruel martyrdom at Praeneste, now   
   called Palestrina, twenty-four miles from Rome. He had dared to reproach for   
   his cruelty towards the Christians, one of the Emperor Aurelian's favorites,   
   who immediately gave the order to arrest him. He was flogged with   
   leaden-tipped straps and "scorpions"; his constancy and his prayer under   
   torture converted five hundred pagans, who declared themselves Christians   
   and were executed at once. The young martyr was thrown into a horrible   
   prison where a celestial vision fortified him. After a second questioning,   
   he was again scourged, then laid upon the rack that his body might be torn   
   with iron nails.   
      
   He still lived and was again ordered to sacrifice to Apollo; his refusals   
   won for him still more torments: live coals on his head, suspension by his   
   feet, boiling water poured over him. His courage was superhuman, his answers   
   admirable. Wild beasts in the arena spared him and lay down at his feet, and   
   still more pagans were converted. He was finally beheaded, and his body   
   buried by the Christians, in a field where they found a new tomb prepared as   
   though for his sepulchre. Two churches in Palestrina and others in various   
   places are dedicated to God under his name.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 10.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The extremities of the earth, and all in every part of it who purely and   
   rightly confess the Lord look directly towards the most holy Roman Church   
   and its confession and faith, as it were to a sun of unfailing light,   
   awaiting from it the bright radiance of the sacred dogmas of our Fathers   
   according to what the six inspired and holy councils have purely and piously   
   decreed, declaring most expressly the symbol of faith. For from the coming   
   down of the incarnate Word amongst us, all the Churches in every part of the   
   world have held that greatest Church alone as their base and foundation,   
   seeing that according to the promise of Christ our Saviour, the gates of   
   hell do never prevail against it, that it has the keys of a right confession   
   and faith in Him, that it opens the true and only religion to such as   
   approach with piety, and shuts up and locks every heretical mouth that   
   speaks injustice against the Most High.   
   --Saint Maximus the Confessor*   
      
   confessor:   
      
   (1) One who has given heroic testimony to the Christian faith. In the early   
   Church, this term frequently designated a martyr. In modern ecclesiastical   
   language, however, a confessor is a male saint who did not shed his blood   
   for the faith. The Church divides such saints into two classes: those who   
   were bishops (confessores pontifices); and those who were not bishops   
   (confessores non pontifices).   
      
   (2) A priest empowered with the necessary jurisdiction to hear confessions   
   and to impart sacramental absolution.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Holy Father, keep in Thy Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may   
   be one even as We are. St. John 17:11   
      
      
   <<>><<>>   
   Two prayers: First, from Gregory of Nyssa, Doctor &   
   Confessor:   
      
   Lord, from Thee flows true and continual kindness. Thou didst   
   cast us off, and justly so, but in Thy mercy Thou didst forgive   
   us. Thou wert at odds with us, but Thou didst reconcile us.   
   Thou didst set a curse upon us, but Thou didst bless us. Thou   
   didst banish us from the garden, but Thou didst call us back   
   again. Thou tooketh away the fig leaves that had been an   
   unsuitable garment, but Thou clothed us in a cloak of great   
   value. Thou didst fling wide the prison gates, but Thou didst   
   give the condemned a pardon. Thou didst sprinkle clean   
   water on us, and Thou didst wash away the dirt.   
      
      
   Second, A Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.:   
      
   Does our life become from day to day more painful, more   
   oppressive, more replete with sufferings? Blessed be He a   
   thousand times who desires it so.  If life be harder, love   
   makes it also stronger, and only this love, grounded on   
   suffering, can carry the Cross of my Lord, Jesus Christ."   
      
   "I believe, O Lord, but strengthen my faith...Heart of Jesus, I   
   love Thee, but increase my love. Heart of Jesus, I trust in   
   Thee, but give greater vigor to my confidence. Heart of Jesus,   
   I give my heart to Thee, but so enclose it in Thee that it may   
   never be separated from Thee. Heart of Jesus, I am all Thine,   
   but take care of my promise so that I may be able to put it in   
   practice even unto the complete sacrifice of my life."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)