From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   July 20th - St. Margaret of Antioch, Virgin and Martyr   
   (d. 275)?   
      
   Saint Margaret was born in the third century at Antioch of Pisidia in   
   southern Asia Minor. Her mother died while she was an infant, and she was   
   instructed in the Christian faith by a virtuous nurse. When her father, a   
   pagan priest named Aedesius, learned she was a Christian, he drove her out   
   of the house. She became a shepherdess to earn her living.   
      
   When a Roman prefect arrived in the region to persecute the Christians,   
   Margaret was imprisoned. The prefect, fascinated by her beauty, desired to   
   save her life and add her to the already considerable number of his wives   
   and concubines. He decided to attempt to overcome her resistance by   
   questioning her before an assembly consisting of virtually the entire city.   
   Her reply to his ultimatum, offering her a choice between joy and torments,   
   was recorded and became renowned. She said: "The true life and true joy,   
   thanks be to God, I have already found, and have placed them in the   
   stronghold of my heart that they may never be removed. I mean that I adore   
   and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, that I venerate Him with confidence and   
   will never cease to honor Him with my whole soul. Know that no human power,   
   no torture will be able to extract from my heart so great a treasure." When   
   the prefect replied that someone had certainly put such ideas into her very   
   young and inexperienced head, a long dialogue ensued, Margaret striving to   
   make him understand the reason for her confidence, and that God Himself   
   gives replies to those who believe in Him when they are questioned,   
   according to His own promise.   
      
   Hearing her say that her Lord was not merely a man, but very genuinely God   
   and Man at one same time, whose power was far above that of emperors, he   
   became furious and sent her to be scourged, suspended in the air by her   
   hands. Many spectators wept and begged her to have pity on herself. She   
   replied: "Illustrious gentlemen and noble ladies, do not weaken my courage,   
   for as the Apostle said, bad conversation corrupts good habits. But I   
   forgive you, because you act this way out of sympathy, and do not possess   
   the true light..." Cast into prison still alive, she was visited by a demon   
   whom she put to flight by a sign of the cross; there followed a vision of   
   the cross of salvation, accompanied by a voice exhorting her to persevere.   
   When on the following day she was subjected to the torment of burning   
   torches, she felt no pain. She continued under other ineffectual torments to   
   exhort the spectators to understand who it was she adored, and finally was   
   beheaded with a large number of those whom her words had caused to believe   
   as she did.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 8.   
      
      
   Quote:   
   Let us look at our own faults, and not other people's. We ought not to   
   insist on everyone following in our footsteps, nor to take upon ourselves to   
   give instructions in spirituality when, perhaps, we do not even know what it   
   is.   
   -St. Teresa of Lisieux   
      
   Bible Quote   
   The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man   
   having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he   
   hath, and buyeth that field.  (Matthew 13:44)   
      
      
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   Prayer Before a Picture of Jesus   
      
   O Jesus, when I look on you   
   My love for you starts up anew,   
   And tells me that your heart loves me   
   And you my special friend would be.   
      
   More courage I will need for sure,   
   But any pain I will endure,   
   Because it makes me like to you   
   And leads unto your kingdom too.   
      
   In sorrow do I find my bliss,   
   For sorrow now no more is this:   
   Rather the path that must be trod,   
   That makes me one with you, my God.   
      
   Oh, leave me here alone and still,   
   And all around the cold and chill.   
   To enter here I will have none;   
   I weary not when I'm alone.   
      
   For, Jesus you are at my side;   
   Never so close did we abide.   
   Stay with me, Jesus, my delight,   
   Your presence near makes all things right.   
   -Blessed Titus Brandsma   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)