From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   October 23rd - Blessed Henry of Cologne, OP (PC)   
      
   Died in Cologne, Germany, 1224 or 1225. One of the first Dominicans   
   recruited   
   from among the students of the university of Paris, Henry became the first   
   prior   
   of the friary at Cologne. He was the closest friend of Blessed Jordan of   
   Saxony,   
   who knew, understood, and promoted friendships as important to the spiritual   
   life. Henry met Jordan when the latter was a professor at the University of   
   Paris. Henry must have been a very personal young man of fine character, for   
   Jordan named him the very flower of the Dominicans. He was "handsome,   
   reverent   
   and virtuous, of a mind to grasp everything and with a rare faculty for   
   expressing himself."   
      
   When Reginald of Saint-Gilles died, Jordan had a vision in which he saw in   
   the   
   cloister of Saint- Jacques a clear and limpid fountain that ran dry. In its   
   place a fountain sprang up, having two heads, surging up like a great river   
   to   
   water the whole earth. It was revealed to him that Henry was one of the   
   fountainheads, and the brethren easily understood that Jordan himself was   
   the   
   other.   
      
   By this time Jordan had decided to abandon his academic career and join the   
   Dominicans. But he could not bring himself to leave behind his dearest   
   friend.   
   Often he would later say in sermons, "You do not go to a banquet alone, but   
   with   
   your dear friends; you should not go alone to heaven either!" Jordan's   
   success   
   in recruiting young men for the order is probably due to this attitude. He   
   could   
   not imagine anyone going into the joy of religious life without bringing his   
   friends along with him. So Jordan delayed entering the order until Henry was   
   ready to do so, too.   
      
   After Henry completed his studies in the arts and theology in Paris, Jordan   
   began recruiting him. When Jordan returned from confession to Reginald,   
   shaken   
   and exalted by the ideals that Reginald had envisioned for him, he looked   
   for   
   and found a Scripture text to confirm his resolution. Then the book fell   
   open to   
   the text he wanted for Henry, "Let us stay together, let us never separate."   
   He   
   urged this on Henry, but the young man, who was chaste and obedient, found   
   it   
   difficult to accept poverty.   
      
   Henry argued with himself, prayed and meditated, but still was unable to   
   accept   
   the precept of abandoning all things for the uncertainties of a mendicant   
   life.   
   One night, after he had prayed for a long time, he saw himself at judgement,   
   and   
   a thunderous voice demanded of him, "And you--what have you given up for   
   God?"   
   Henry was shaken by this thought, went to see Master Reginald, and resolved   
   to   
   enter the order as soon as possible. On Ash Wednesday, 1220, the two friends   
   went together to be received.   
      
   Jordan, a magnetic preacher, thought that Henry was the model of preachers.   
   Our   
   image of Henry is highly idealized because the only records remaining are   
   those   
   written by Jordan. In 1221, when the priory of Cologne was established,   
   Henry   
   was sent there as prior, and Jordan went to Lombardy. It was a sorrow to see   
   the   
   friends separated, but they wrote frequently. Theirs was a friendship based   
   on   
   the love of God and directed to the furthering of His kingdom.   
      
   At about the age of 35, Henry died suddenly in the arms of Jordan, who was   
   visiting Cologne. It was a terrible grief to Jordan, and his letter   
   concerning   
   the death of Henry is one of the saddest and most beautiful of all his   
   eloquent   
   writings. He writes to Blessed Diana in the rawness of his sorrow, "Do not   
   grieve too much about the death of your sister Otta . . . it is good for us   
   to   
   be saddened now at the same time, to go sowing our seed in tears; at the   
   harvest   
   we shall come carrying our sheaves in joy." Jordan confesses that he wept   
   copiously for his friend and, after giving a beautiful account of the last   
   moments of Henry, he adds, "There is still a long way to go. If you are   
   tired,   
   your Jesus was also . . . in all humility, in all patience, He knew how to   
   wait"   
   (Benedictines, Dorcy).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   When Jesus is corporally present within us,   
   the angels surround us as a guard of love.   
   -St. Bernard   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.  (Phil. 2:12)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   +Novena to the Holy Ghost+   
      
   Fifth Day: The Gift of Knowledge   
      
   Light immortal! Light Divine!   
   Visit Thou these hearts of Thine,   
   And our inmost being fill.   
      
   The gift of Knowledge enables the soul to evaluate created things at their   
   true worth-in relation to God. Knowledge unmasks the pretense of creatures,   
   reveals their emptiness, and points out their only true purpose as   
   instruments   
   in the service of God. It shows us the loving care of God even in adversity,   
   and directs us to glorify Him in every circumstance of life. Guided by its   
   light, we put first things first, and prize the friendship of God beyond all   
   else.   
   "Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it."   
      
   Come, O Blessed Spirit of Knowledge, and grant that I may perceive the will   
   of the Father; show me the nothingness of earthly things, that I may realize   
   their vanity and use them only for Thy glory and my own salvation, looking   
   ever   
   beyond them to Thee, and Thy eternal rewards. Amen.   
      
      
   Our Father, Hail Mary, 7 Glory Bes   
   Act of Consecration to the Holy Ghost   
   Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost   
      
   See:   
   http://www.truecatholic.org/hgnovena.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)