From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 17th - St. Olympia of Constantinople   
   Widow and Deaconess, (died ca. 440)   
      
   Saint Olympia, the glory of the widows in the Eastern Church, was born of a   
   noble and illustrious family. Left an orphan at a tender age, she was   
   brought up   
   by Theodosia, sister of Saint Amphilochius, a virtuous and prudent woman. At   
   the   
   age of eighteen, Olympias was regarded as a model of Christian virtues. It   
   was   
   then that she was married to Nebridius, a young man worthy of her; the new   
   spouses promised one another to live in perfect continence. After less than   
   two   
   years of this angelic union, Nebridius went to receive in heaven the reward   
   of   
   his virtues.   
      
   The Emperor would have engaged her in a second marriage, but she replied:   
   "If   
   God had destined me to live in the married state, He would not have taken my   
   first spouse. The event which has broken my bonds shows me the way   
   Providence   
   has traced for me." She had resolved to consecrate her life to prayer and   
   penance, and to devote her fortune to the poor. She liberated all her   
   slaves,   
   who nonetheless wished to continue to serve her, and she administered her   
   fortune as a trustee for the poor. The farthest cities, islands, deserts and   
   poor churches found themselves blessed through her liberality.   
      
   Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, had a high esteem for the saintly   
   widow   
   and made her a deaconess of his church. The duties of deaconesses were to   
   prepare the altar linens and instruct the catechumens of their sex; they   
   aided   
   the priests in works of charity, and they made a vow of perpetual chastity.   
   When   
   Saint John Chrysostom succeeded Nectarius, he had for Olympias no less   
   respect   
   than his predecessor, and through her aid he built a hospital for the sick   
   and   
   refuges for the elderly and orphans. When he was exiled in the year 404, he   
   continued to encourage her in her good works by his letters, and she   
   assisted   
   him to ransom some of his fellow captives.   
      
   Saint Olympias, as one of John's supporters, was persecuted. When she   
   refused to   
   deal with the usurper of the episcopal see, she was mistreated and   
   calumniated,   
   and her goods were sold at a public auction. Finally she, too, was banished   
   with   
   the entire community of nuns which she governed in Constantinople. Her   
   illnesses   
   added to her sufferings, but she never ceased her good works until her death   
   in   
   the year 410. She outlived the exiled Patriarch by about two or three years.   
      
   Reflection: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but in heaven,   
   where neither rust nor moth consume." (Words of Our Lord: Saint Matthew   
   6:20)   
      
      
   Source: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Principal Saints, by Rev.   
   Alban   
   Butler (Metropolitan Press: Baltimore, 1845), October-December, Vol. IV.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Never believe you have attained such purity as you should, whilst your will   
   is   
   not freely and gladly submissive to the holy will of God, as to all, and in   
   all,   
   even in things most repugnant.   
   -St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote   
   A workman that is a drunkard shall not be rich: and he that contemneth small   
   things, shall fall by little and little.   (Ecclesiasticus 19:10)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   An Exercise for Confession by   
   Saint Leonard of Port Maurice.   
      
   Weep, O my soul, for all your sins. Detest your guilt beyond   
   every form of calamity; and do so with the purpose of confession.   
   For by your sins you have offended God your Father. You have   
   offended God your Creator. You have offended your God who   
   never injured you. You have offended God who elected you for   
   His adopted son. You have offended God who made you an   
   inheritor of paradise. You have offended God the highest Good,   
   goodness infinite, the fountain of grace. You have offended God   
   while in the very act of blessing you.   
      
   Weep for your sins, because you have offended a God who for   
   love of you made Himself man. You have offended a God who   
   for love of you was born in a stable. You, have offended a God   
   Who, while yet in His infancy began to shed tears and blood for   
   you. You have offended a God who for love of you lived poor and   
   unknown in a workman's shed. You have offended a God who for   
   love of you went about preaching His heavenly doctrine amid toil   
   and misery. You have offended a God who for love of you   
   instituted the most Holy Sacraments. You have offended a God   
   who for love of you has left himself to be entirely yours in the   
   Most Holy Sacrament.   
      
   You have offended a God who sweat blood for love of you. You   
   have offended a God who let himself be bound and dragged and   
   outraged for love of you. You have offended a God who caused   
   Himself to be buffeted, to be spit upon, to be kicked again and   
   again, for love of you. You have offended a God who chose to   
   be tied to a pillar, and scourged, for love of you. You have   
   offended a God who chose to be crowned with thorns for love of   
   you. You have offended a God who let himself be robed as a   
   mock king, and made an object of jest and ridicule, for love of you.   
      
    You have offended a God who let himself be loaded with a   
   heavy cross for love of you. You have offended a God who   
   caused His hands and His feet to be pierced with great nails for   
   love of you. You have offended a God who gave His last gasp   
   hanging nailed on a cross for love of you. You have offended a   
   God who let gall and vinegar be given to Him to drink for love of   
   you. You have offended a God who for a last pledge of His   
   unbounded love, left you as a son to Mary, and Mary as mother   
   to you. You have offended a God who died transfixed upon a   
   cross for your salvation. You have offended a God who let His   
   side be broken through by a spear for love of you. You have   
   offended a God who chose to be buried in a tomb. You have   
   offended a God who rose again to life, and sits at the right hand   
   of the Father, to give paradise to you.   
      
   You have offended Jesus Christ your Redeemer, your Life, your Master,   
   the Physician of your soul. You have offended a God who tried hard by   
   infinite kindness to get loved by you. You have offended a God who   
   seeks no recompense for so many benefits, but only to be loved in return   
   by you, and obeyed by you. You have offended a God who seeks after   
   your love in order to make You happy in this life, and, oh,   
   how happy in the next! You have offended a God who loves   
   you as the pupil of His eye.   
      
   My soul, my soul, you have done ill and you could bear to do so!   
   What harm had your God done to you? Tell me why you   
   have offended Him. Begin now at least to lament your sins,   
   and to love God. Oh, if I had always loved and served that   
   God who has loved me more than His own life! My love,   
   my life, my salvation, my hope!   
      
   I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart;   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)