From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 22nd - Saint Symphorian, Martyr   
      
   (d. ca. 180)   
      
   About the year 180 a great procession in honor of the Roman goddess Ceres   
   was organized at Autun in southern France. Among the crowd was one who   
   refused to pay the ordinary marks of worship. That non-conformist was   
   therefore dragged before the magistrate and accused of sacrilege and   
   sedition. When asked his name and condition, he replied, "My name is   
   Symphorian; I am a Christian." He was the son of a noble Christian family,   
   still young and so innocent that he was thought to converse with the holy   
   Angels. The Christians of Autun were few in number and little known, and the   
   judge could not believe that the youth was serious in his purpose. He caused   
   the laws enforcing pagan worship to be read, expecting a ready compliance.   
   The young man replied that it was the law of the King of kings that he must   
   obey. "Give me a hammer," he said, "and I will break your idol in pieces."   
      
   He was scourged and thrown into a dungeon. Some days later this son of light   
   came forth from the darkness of his prison, haggard and worn, but full of   
   joy. He despised the riches and honors offered to him as he had despised   
   torments. He died by the sword, and went to the court of his heavenly King.   
   The mother of Saint Symphorian stood on the city walls and saw her son taken   
   out to die. She knew the honors he had refused and the dishonor of his   
   death, but she esteemed the reproach of Christ better than all the riches of   
   the earth, and she cried out to him, "My son, my son, keep the living God in   
   your heart; look up to Him who reigns in heaven!" Thus she shared in the   
   glory of his passion, and her name lives with his in the records of the   
   Church. Many miracles spread the glory of Saint Symphorian, and of Christ   
   the King of all Saints.   
      
   Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea   
   (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   We should have frequent recourse to prayer, and persevere a long time in it.   
   God wishes to be solicited. He is not weary of hearing us. The treasure of   
   His graces is infinite. We can do nothing more pleasing to him than to beg   
   incessantly that He bestow them upon us.   
   --St. John Baptist de la Salle   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be   
   with Me; in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me.   
   St. John 17:24   
      
      
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   HOLY FACE PRAYERS   
      
   May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible   
   and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored   
   and glorified in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the   
   creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,   
   in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Thine adorable Face,   
   to ask of Thee the graces of which we stand most in need, we beseech Thee   
   above all, to grant us that interior disposition of never refusing at any   
   time to do what Thou requirest of us by Thy holy Commandments and divine   
   inspirations. Amen.   
      
   O Good Jesus, who hast said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall   
   find, knock and it shall be opened to you," grant us O Lord, that faith   
   which   
   obtains all, or supply in us what may be deficient; grant us, by the pure   
   effect   
   of Thy charity, and for Thine eternal glory, the graces which we need and   
   which   
   we look for from Thine infinite mercy. Amen.   
      
   Be Merciful to us, O my God, and reject not our prayers, when amid our   
   afflictions,   
   we call upon Thy Holy Name and seek with love and confidence Thine adorable   
   face.   
      
   O Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Face of Thy Son Jesus. We present   
   It to   
   Thee with confidence, to implore Thy pardon. The All-Merciful Advocate opens   
   His   
   mouth to plead our cause; hearken to His cries, behold His tears, O God, and   
   through   
   His infinite merits, hearken to Him when He intercedes for us poor miserable   
   sinners.   
   Amen.   
      
   Adorable Face of my Jesus, my only love, my light, and my life, grant that I   
   may know   
   Thee, love Thee and serve Thee alone, that I may live with Thee, of Thee, by   
   Thee, and   
   for Thee. Amen.   
      
   Eternal Father, I offer Thee the adorable Face of Thy Beloved Son for the   
   honor and   
   glory of Thy Name, for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of the   
   dying.   
      
   O Divine Jesus, through Thy Face and Name, save us. Our hope is in the   
   virtue of Thy   
   Holy Name.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)