From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   March 31st - St. Guy of Pomposa   
      
   Guy of Pomposa, an 11th century Italian saint, was renowned for his   
   sanctity, wisdom and spiritual advice.   
      
   St. Guy (also known as Guido, Guion, Wido, Witen and Wit) was born in   
   Ravenna (a city in northern Italy located near Venice). His parents were   
   proud of their son and always wanted him to look his best, so he paid   
   special attention to his appearance.  Until one July 23 on the feast of St.   
   Apollinaris, who, legend says, was a disciple of St. Peter and the first   
   bishop of Ravenna. That day, Guy went into Ravenna, took off his luxurious   
   clothes, gave them to the poor, replacing them with grubby clothes.   
      
   Next, despite his parents' objections, he left for Rome, where he was   
   tonsured and moved to an island in the river Po under the direction of   
   Martin, a hermit.   
      
   Three years later, he joined Pomposa Abbey, near Ferrara, and began training   
   for the monastic life. Soon, he was named the first abbot of St. Severus   
   Abbey at Ravenna. Later, he became abbot of Pomposa.   
      
   Before long, great numbers of men-including his father and brother-were   
   joining the community. Eventually, Guy had to build another monastery to   
   accommodate the large number of monks.   
      
   After a few years, he grew tired of the secular requirements of his job and   
   delegated those roles to others so he could concentrate on the spiritual   
   side of monastic life.   
      
   Several times during the year, he would move to a cell three miles from the   
   abbey for intense prayer and fasting. During Lent, he added physical   
   disciplines to his penances, but he was known for treating his monks kindly.   
      
   For two years, he invited St. Peter Damian to lecture on the Scriptures at   
   Pomposa Abbey. In appreciation, St. Peter Damian devoted his book, De   
   Perfectione Monachorum, to St. Guy.   
      
   Near the end of his life, St. Guy lived in solitude. One day, Emperor Henry   
   III of the Holy Roman Empire summoned him to Piacenza. Guy resisted making   
   the trip, but finally agreed to go, first telling the monks that they would   
   not see him again.   
      
   When he was near Parma, about 75 miles south of Milan, Guy became ill and   
   died. Both Pomposa and Parma wanted his body. But the emperor overruled them   
   and ordered that St. Guy's relics be taken to St. John the Evangelist Church   
   at Speyer in Germany, which was renamed St. Guido-Stift. We celebrate his   
   feast on March 31.   
      
   St. Guy brought the light of spiritual wisdom to many. What light do you   
   bring to others?   
      
   Sources: Butler's Lives of the Saints, Dictionary of Saints and 365 Saints.   
      
      
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   Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself.  (Matthew 16:24)   
      
   "Everyone has opinions of his own, nor is this opposed to virtue. It is only   
   the love and attachment we have to our own opinions, and the high value we   
   set on them, which is infinitely contrary to our perfection. This is the   
   last thing to be abandoned, and the cause why so few are perfect"   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   This Saint succeeded in abandoning this last thing, so that he was once able   
   to write to a friend that he had no such attachment to his own opinion as to   
   wish anyone ill who did not follow it, and that he did not claim that his   
   sentiments should serve as a rule to anyone.   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  March - Mortification)   
      
      
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   Invocations   
      
   Eternal Father, we offer Thee the infinite merits of Our Lord   
   Jesus Christ, of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the   
   Saints, in expiation for the sins of the world and for the   
   salvation of souls.   
      
      
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   Communion Visit to Our Lady   
      
   Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! O blessed Mother, the   
   salutation of the angel is abundantly verified in thee, for the Lord is with   
   thee; the newborn Savior lay upon thy knees and smiled at thee with His   
   tender smile.   
      
   O Mother, full of grace, the Lord is with me; the Lord of Heaven and earth   
   is now within my heart; I, too, enjoy the great happiness, the exalted   
   blessing which the Incarnation brings to mankind, for I have received the   
   Lord's Body.   
      
   O blessed Mother of God, help me to implore the favor of worthily receiving   
   the Bread of Heaven, the Bread of the strong, that I may not faint on the   
   passage from time to eternity. Support me with thy help when in my last hour   
   I stretch out my hands to thee; show to me in that supreme moment the   
   blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, Whom I have received today, and let me   
   hear to my solace the comforting words of the priest:   
      
   "Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)