From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   June 26th - Sts John and Paul, Martyrs   
      
   Died 362?. There is debate as to whether or not the stories about the two   
   brothers named John and Paul are true or fiction. If true, there is debate   
   about the date. Their existing Passio is simply an adaptation of the story   
   of Saints Juventinus and Maximinus, army officers who were martyred at   
   Antioch under Julian the Apostate in 363. Nevertheless, they are named in   
   the canon of the Mass. Traditionally, it is said that they served as army   
   officers in the court of Constantia, daughter of Emperor Constantine. One   
   became her steward, the other the master of her household.   
      
   The emperor next sent them to serve under his general Gallicanus, who was   
   defending Thrace from the Scythians. The Scythians were such formidable   
   enemies that some of Gallicanus's army surrendered. John and Paul told him   
   that victory would be his if he would become a Christian. He did so, and the   
   Scythians were routed.   
      
   The two brothers prospered until shortly after 360 AD, when Emperor Julian   
   began a policy of systematically degrading Christianity and promoting   
   paganism. The two saints declared that they would no longer serve him.   
   Summoned to his court, they simply stayed away and reiterated their dislike   
   of his pagan ways. He gave them ten days to reconsider their attitude, but   
   they remained firm. Julian then sent a captain of his bodyguard, and the two   
   Christian brothers were executed on the Coelian Hill in Rome, in their own   
   home.   
      
   About 35 years later a wealthy senator named Pammachius built a church   
   dedicated to their honor on the site of their home. This church, Santi   
   Giovanni e Paolo, has been excavated, and underneath 12th century   
   alterations has been uncovered the original facade. One wall consists of a   
   former pagan house, several stories high. Usually burials were allowed only   
   outside the city walls, but here bodies of martyrs have been   
   discovered-fitting in with the legend that the captain of Julian's bodyguard   
   secretly buried the bodies of John and Paul in their own garden, announcing   
   that they had gone into exile (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley,   
   Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Quote   
   When one is going on really well, he feels in himself a continual desire to   
   advance; and the more he grows in perfection, the more this desire grows.   
   Since his light is increasing every day, it always seems to him that he has   
   no virtue and is doing no good; or if, perhaps, he sees that he has and is   
   doing some good, it yet appears to him very imperfect, and he makes little   
   account of it. And so it comes to pass that he always goes on laboring for   
   the acquisition of virtue without ever being weary.   
   -St. Lawrence Justinian   
      
   Bible Quote   
   At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of   
   heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and   
   prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones.  (Matt 11:25)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The Fiery Prayer   
   for the Apostles of the Latter Times   
      
   By St. Louis Marie Grignion 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.   
      
   Children: souls raised above this earth like heavenly dew who, without   
   impediment, fly hither and thither in accordance with the breath of the Holy   
   Spirit. It was they, in part, Thy Prophets spoke of when they asked: Who are   
   these that fly as clouds? (Is. 60:8). Wither the impulse of the Spirit was   
   to go, there they went (Ez. 1:12).   
      
   Children: Men ever at Thy hand, ever ready to obey Thee, like Samuel, at the   
   voice of their Superiors: Presto sum: I am ready, every ready to run and   
   suffer everything with Thee and for Thee, like the Apostles: Let us also go   
   ,that we may die with Him (John 11:16).   
      
   Children: True Children of Mary, Thy Holy Mother, who are begotten and   
   concealed by Her charity, carried in Her bosom, fastened to Her breasts,   
   nourished with Her milk, reared under Her care, upheld by Her arms, and   
   enriched with Her graces.   
      
   Children: True servants of the Blessed Virgin, who, like other Saint   
   Dominics, would go everywhere carrying the bright and burning torch of the   
   Holy Gospel in their mouths and the holy Rosary in their hands; barking,   
   like faithful watchdogs, at the wolves who would fain tear to pieces the   
   flock of Jesus Christ; burning like fires and lighting up the darkness of   
   the World like other suns. Men who would, by means of a true devotion to   
   Mary, that is to say, interior, not hypocritical; exterior, not critical;   
   prudent, not ignorant; tender, not indifferent; constant, not unsteady; and   
   holy, without presumption, crush wherever they go the head of the old   
   serpent, in order that the curse Thou placed on him might be entirely   
   fulfilled: I will put enmities between thee and the Woman and thy seed and   
   Her seed: She shall crush thy head (Gen. 3:15).   
      
      
   See whole prayer at:   
   http://www.themontfortacademy.org/Pages/FieryPrayerDay1.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)