From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   October 16th - Saint Gall, Abbot   
    (d. 646)   
      
   Saint Gall was born in Ireland soon after the middle of the sixth century,   
   of   
   pious, noble, and rich parents. He was raised in a monastery during his   
   youth,   
   under Saint Colomban and Saint Comgall, his Abbot. When Saint Columban left   
   Ireland, Saint Gall accompanied him into England and afterward into France,   
   where they arrived in 585. In a wild forest of the diocese of Besançon,   
   Saint   
   Columban founded the monastery of Annegray, and two years afterward another   
   in   
   Luxeuil. Driven away by a hostile king, the two Saints withdrew into more   
   propitious regions, eventually going into Switzerland, near Bregentz, a   
   village   
   on Lake Constance. The idolaters of the region were greatly irritated when   
   Saint   
   Gall preached to them and broke three statues, throwing the pieces into the   
   lake. Many, however, were converted, and Saint Columban was able to purify   
   and   
   dedicate a formerly idolatrous chapel, which had once been a small sanctuary   
   honoring a Roman martyr named Saint Aurelia, and consecrate an altar for it,   
   where Mass was then offered. The disciples who had remained behind the two   
   Saints, rejoined them at this place and built cells around the chapel. When   
   the   
   Saints learned that the hostile king who had driven them out of France now   
   had   
   conquered this Swiss territory also, Saint Columban went into Italy; Saint   
   Gall   
   was prevented by a grievous illness from accompanying him.   
      
   Saint Gall had been ordained a priest by the command of Saint Columban, and   
   now,   
   having learned the language of the region where he settled near Lake   
   Constance,   
   he cast out demons, lived in peace with the wild animals, drove serpents   
   from   
   the valley, and converted to the faith a great number of idolaters. The   
   cells   
   which the Saint built there for those who desired to serve God with him,   
   were   
   attached to the monastery which bears his name. A synod of bishops, with the   
   clergy and people, earnestly desired to place the Saint in charge of the   
   episcopal see of Constance; but his modesty refused the dignity, and one of   
   his   
   disciples was chosen instead. He died in the year 646.   
      
   Reflection: Our Lord says, "If any one would be My disciple, let him deny   
   himself and take up his cross every day." The denial of self is, then, the   
   first   
   step on the royal road to perfection.   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud   
   et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 12; 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:   
   The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate   
   Heart   
   of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works   
   with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God's love.   
   Nothing   
   deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labours strenuously; he welcomes   
   hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he rejoices in anguish. He   
   thinks   
   only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate him by his prayers, his   
   labours, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory of God   
   and   
   the salvation of souls.   
   -St Anthony Mary Claret   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   They who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and   
   desires. Gal. 5:24   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD   
      
   What can I do but just love You,   
   For my riches are here in my heart;   
    They are not locked or chained against   
   stealing.   
   They're always free to depart.   
   I offer this gift to You, Jesus,   
   Accept it with Your blessed joy.   
   I'm Yours to hold there in Your Kingdom;   
   Just treat me as Your little toy!   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer-song of St. Rose of Lima   
      
   St. Rose, like many saints, had a special relationship with   
    nature. She had a natural talent for singing and she composed a song   
    in praise of God. The family she stayed with would listen at her   
    door each evening for a unique duet sung by St. Rose-yes a duet!   
    At sunset a small bird came and sang (chirped?) with her the song   
    she composed. They sang alternately for an hour. Then at her signal   
    the bird would leave. Here are some of the verses of her song-prayer:   
      
      
   Tiny singer, flit your wings;   
   Bow before the King of kings.   
   Let your lovely concert rise   
   To Him Who gave you songs and skies.   
   Let your throat, full of carols sweet,   
   Pour them before the Eternal's feet   
   That we His praise may magnify   
   Whom birds and angels glorify.   
      
   I shall sing to Him who saved me:   
   You will sing to Him who made ye.   
   Both together, we shall bless   
   The God of love and happiness.   
   Sing, sing with bursting throat and heart!   
   In turn our voices will take part   
   To sing together, you and I,   
   A canticle of holy joy.   
      
   As the bird flew away:   
      
   The little bird abandons me:   
   My playmate's wings ascend.   
   Blessed be my God, Who faithfully   
   Stays with me to the end.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)