From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - Matthew 5:38-42 -   
   "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I   
   tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right   
   cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take   
   your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one   
   mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn   
   away from the one who wants to borrow from you."   
   __________________________   
      
   When we are wronged, often our first reaction is to get even. Instead, Jesus   
   said we should do good to those who wrong us! Our desire should not be to   
   keep score, but to love and forgive. This is not natural - it is   
   supernatural. Only God can give us the strength to love as he does. Instead   
   of planning vengeance, pray for those who hurt you.   
      
      
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   May 12th - Saint Epiphanius, Archbishop of Salamis (Cyprus)   
      
   Saint Epiphanius was born about the year 315, of Israelite parents, in   
   Palestine. He lost his father while very young, and was raised by a wealthy   
   man who later made him his heir when he died. In his youth he began the   
   study of Holy Scripture, and became a Christian in circumstances which   
   remain unknown. With his sister he received Baptism; and then, leaving a   
   part of his inheritance to her, he sold the rest, gave the money to poor,   
   and kept only what he needed to buy books for his studies. He knew several   
   languages, and could read Scripture in all its texts.   
      
   With a desire for perfection, he visited the solitaries of Egypt, and when   
   formed for monastic life, returned in 333 to his homeland. He was ordained a   
   priest and founded a monastery in his native region of Eleutheropolis, which   
   he governed for long years as Abbot. His labors in the exercise of virtue   
   seemed to some to surpass his strength; but his apology was always: "God   
   gives the kingdom of heaven only on condition that we labor; and all we can   
   do bears no proportion to such a crown." He sometimes relaxed his personal   
   austerities in favor of hospitality, preferring charity to abstinence. To   
   his prayer and corporal austerities he added an indefatigable application to   
   study. Most books extant at that time passed through his hands. Although he   
   was himself the skillful director of many others, Saint Epiphanius chose the   
   great Saint Hilarion of Palestine as his master in the spiritual life, and   
   benefited from his direction and acquaintance for over twenty years.   
      
   A prophecy made to him in Egypt, that one day he would be bishop of Cyprus,   
   alarmed him; and to avoid that honor, which he regarded as a misfortune, he   
   decided to go elsewhere. The ship on which he embarked, however, landed by a   
   contrary wind on Cyprus, where the bishops were assembled to choose a   
   successor to the deceased bishop of Salamine, its capital. He was elected in   
   367 by a disposition of Providence whose details are unknown. He continued   
   to wear the monastic habit and to govern his monastery in Palestine, which   
   he visited from time to time. No one surpassed him in tenderness and charity   
   to the poor.   
      
   The veneration which all men had for his sanctity exempted him from the   
   persecution of the Arian Emperor Valens in 371. In 382 he journeyed to Rome,   
   for a council convoked by Pope Saint Damasus. In the year 403, when he was   
   on his way back to Salamis after an absence in Constantinople, he was taken   
   ill and died during the voyage, having been bishop thirty-six years. He was   
   greatly admired and praised by his contemporaries, and his Cypriote   
   disciples built a church dedicated to him.   
      
   Reflection. "This is the meaning of charity - it is not we who loved God,   
   but it is He who has first loved us." (I John 4:10)   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 5; 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 state of grace is nothing other than purity, and it gives heaven to   
   those who clothe themselves in it. Holiness, therefore, is simply the state   
   of grace purified, illuminated, beautified by the most perfect purity,   
   exempt not only from mortal sin but also from the smallest faults; purity   
   will make saints of you! Everything lies in this!   
   --St. Peter Eymard   
      
   Bible Quote   
   His disciples say to him: Behold, now thou speakest plainly, and speakest no   
   proverb. 30 Now we know that thou knowest all things, and thou needest not   
   that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from   
   God.  (John 16:29-30)   
      
      
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   Indulgenced Prayers   
      
   O saving Victim, opening wide   
   The gate of heaven to man below,   
   Our foes press on from every side;   
   Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.   
      
   To Thy great Name be endless praise,   
   Immortal Godhead, one in three;   
   Oh, grant us endless length of days   
   In our true native land with Thee.   
   Amen.   
      
      
   Blessed is He Who cometh in the Name of the Lord:   
    Hosanna in the highest.   
      
      
   Jesu, bread of life, protect us;   
   Shepherd kind, do not reject us;   
   In Thy happy fold collect us,   
   And partakers of the bliss elect us,   
   Which shall never see an end.   
      
   Thou, the wisest and the mightiest,   
   Who us here with food delightest,   
   Seat us at Thy banquet brightest   
   With the blessed Thou invitest   
   An eternal feast to spend.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)