From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 26th - St. Victor of Caesarea, Martyr   
   (Also known as Vitores)   
      
   Died c. 950. Victor's 15th-century passio reports that he was a Spanish   
   priest   
   martyred by the Moors. Older documents from the 11th century, found in Silos   
   Abbey in Spain, say that he was martyred at Caesarea in Mauretania (now   
   called   
   Cherchel, Algeria), North Africa, in a 10th-century persecution. This   
   document   
   tells us that Victor came to Caesarea to preach to the Moors. He was endowed   
   with the gift of prophecy and of reading hearts.   
      
   The tale continues that Victor hoped to suffer martyrdom in imitation of his   
   Master. One day Victor met with two officials returning from the frontier.   
   One   
   was evil; the other honest. Victor predicted that the first would soon be   
   imprisoned and the second promoted. Then he told them that when they saw the   
   governor, they were to tell him that if he sentenced Victor to be crucified,   
   he   
   would be cured of the gout. It all came to pass.   
      
   Without delay the governor promoted one, demoted the other, and condemned   
   Victor. Immediately his gout was cured. Victor was crucified on a Sunday in   
   the   
   midst of a carnival atmosphere. When the executioner bent the nail he was   
   driving into Victor's foot, the saint told him to take it out and use   
   another.   
   The passio is full of details of the crowd's derisive comments and miracles   
   worked by the victor (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   A man who fails to love the Mass fails to love Christ. We must make an   
   effort to   
   "live" the Mass with calm and serenity, with devotion and affection. And   
   this is   
   why I have always suspected that those who want the Mass to be over with   
   quickly   
   show, with this insensitive attitude, that they have not yet realized what   
   the   
   sacrifice of the altar means.   
   -St. Josemaría Escriva de Balaguer   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was   
   hungry.   
   3. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command   
   that   
   these stones be made bread. 4. Who answered and said: It is written, Not in   
   bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth   
   of   
   God.   
   (Matthew 4:2-4)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer of St. Louis (De Montfort) -a prayer to our Lord :   
      
   O most loving Jesus, deign to let me pour forth my gratitude before Thee,   
   for   
   the grace Thou hast bestowed upon me in giving me to Thy holy Mother through   
   the   
   devotion of Holy Bondage, that she may be my advocate in the presence of Thy   
   majesty and my support in my extreme misery.  Alas, O Lord! I am so wretched   
   that without this dear Mother I should be certainly lost.  Yes, Mary is   
   necessary for me at Thy side and everywhere that she may appease Thy just   
   wrath,   
   because I have so often offended Thee; that she may save me from the eternal   
   punishment of Thy justice, which I deserve; that she may contemplate Thee,   
   speak   
   to Thee, pray to Thee, approach Thee and please Thee; that she may help me   
   to   
   save my soul and the souls of others; in short, Mary is necessary for me   
   that I   
   may always do Thy holy will and seek Thy greater glory in all things. Ah,   
   would   
   that I could proclaim throughout the whole world the mercy that Thou hast   
   shown   
   to me!  Would that everyone might know I should be already damned, were it   
   not   
   for Mary! Would that I might offer worthy thanksgiving for so great a   
   blessing!   
   Mary is in me. Oh, what a treasure!  Oh, what a consolation! And shall I not   
   be   
   entirely hers?  Oh, what ingratitude!  My dear Saviour, send me death rather   
   than such a calamity, for I would rather die than live without belonging   
   entirely to Mary. With St. John the Evangelist at the foot of the Cross, I   
   have   
   taken her a thousand times for my own and as many times have given myself to   
   her; but if I have not yet done it as Thou, dear Jesus, dost wish, I now   
   renew   
   this offering as Thou dost desire me to renew it.  And if Thou seest in my   
   soul   
   or my body anything that does not belong to this august princess, I pray   
   Thee to   
   take it and cast it far from me, for whatever in me does not belong to Mary   
   is   
   unworthy of Thee.   
      
   O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces.  Plant in my soul the Tree of true   
   Life, which is Mary; cultivate it and tend it so that it may grow and   
   blossom   
   and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance.  O Holy Spirit, give me   
   great   
   devotion to Mary, Thy faithful spouse; give me great confidence in her   
   maternal   
   heart and an abiding refuge in her mercy, so that by her Thou mayest truly   
   form   
   in me Jesus Christ, great and mighty, unto the fullness of His perfect age.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)