From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Would you follow Christ?   
      
      "When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be   
   his follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we   
   think he is imposing a burden on us (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke   
   9:23). But an order is no burden when it is given by one who helps in   
   carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not where he   
   has already gone? We know that he has risen and ascended into heaven;   
   there, then, we must follow him. There is no cause for despair--by   
   ourselves we can do nothing, but we have Christ’s promise...   
      "One who claims to abide in Christ ought to walk as he walked.   
   Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as he was humble. Do not scorn   
   his lowliness if you want to reach his exaltation. Human sin made the   
   road rough. Christ’s resurrection leveled it. By passing over it   
   himself, he transformed the narrowest of tracks into a royal highway.   
   Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and   
   charity. Everyone wants to get to the top--well, the first step to   
   take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you--do you   
   want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility,   
   and you will already be climbing."   
   , by Caesarius of Arles, 470-542 A.D. (excerpt from SERMONS 159, 1.4–6)   
      
      
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   May 11th - St. Asaph of Wales B (RM)   
      
   Died c. 600; feast day formerly on May 1. The small town of Saint   
   Asaph in northern Wales was once the scene of a busy and thriving   
   monastery of Llanelwy founded by Saint Kentigern of Scotland by the   
   riverside. Kentigern had probably built it after returning from a   
   visit to Saint David. With him was Asaph, his favorite pupil, whom he   
   left behind at Llanelwy as abbot to consolidate his work. Others say   
   that it was Saint Asaph who founded the abbey after having been   
   trained by Kentigern--the truth is shrouded by time. There is,   
   however, certainty that Saint Asaph founded the church of Llanasa in   
   Flintshire.   
      
   An interesting account exists of Llanelwy's establishment. "There were   
   assembled in this monastery no fewer than 995 brethren, who all lived   
   under monastic discipline, serving God in great continence." A third   
   of these, who were illiterate, tilled the ground and herded the   
   cattle; a third were occupied with domestic tasks inside the   
   monastery; and the remainder, who were educated men, said the daily   
   offices and performed other religious duties.   
      
   A distinctive feature was its unbroken continuity of worship, for,   
   like the Sleepless Ones, the monks of Llanelwy divided themselves into   
   groups and maintained an unceasing vigil. "When one company had   
   finished the divine service in the church, another presently entered,   
   and began it anew; and these having ended, a third immediately   
   succeeded them." So that by this means prayer was offered up in the   
   church without intermission, and the praises of God were ever in their   
   mouths."   
      
   Among them, we are told, "was one named Asaph, more particularly   
   illustrious for his descent and his beauty, who from his childhood   
   shone forth brightly, both with virtues and miracles. He daily   
   endeavored to imitate his master, Saint Kentigern, in all sanctity and   
   abstinence; and to him the man of God bore ever a special affection,   
   insomuch that to his prudence he committed the care of the monastery."   
   A later medieval writer penned about Asaph's "charm of manners, grace   
   of body, holiness of heart, and witness of miracles." Still little is   
   actually known about him.   
      
   The story has been handed down to us that one bitter night in winter   
   when Kentigern, as was his custom, had been standing in the cold river   
   reciting from the Psalter, and had crawled back to his cell, frozen   
   and exhausted, Asaph ran to fetch hot coals to warm him. Finding no   
   pan, however, and being in great haste, fearing that the shivering   
   abbot might die, he raked the glowing coals into the skirt of his   
   monk's habit, and ran with them, at great risk and discomfort, and   
   cast them on the hearth of the saint.   
      
   That story is typical of his spirit, for he was devoted both to his   
   master and to the welfare of his monks. We are not surprised that   
   Kentigern, with every confidence, left the monastery in his care.   
   Under Asaph's leadership it flourished, and when Asaph was made   
   bishop, it became the seat of his diocese. The goodness of one man   
   spread and infected many others with holiness, including many of his   
   kinsmen, e.g. Deiniol (September 11) and Tysilo (Nov. 8). Today on the   
   banks of the River Elwy stands the cathedral that bears his name   
   (Attwater, Benedictines, Gill).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Let me neither seek to please, nor fear to displease any but Thee alone"   
   --St. Thomas Aquinas   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "But I feared lest I should transfer the honour of my God to a man,   
   and lest I should adore any one except my God"  (Esther 13:14)   
      
   "If you have respect to persons you commit sin, being reproved by the   
   law as transgressors"  (James 2:9)   
      
      
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   Prayer for Help   
      
       Lord Jesus, You see my extreme poverty and destitution, You see my   
   frail nature surrounded with so many crafty, powerful enemies, both   
   exterior and interior placed amid many perils and countless evils both   
   temporal and spiritual, from which only You, in Your great mercy, can   
   rescue me. For this reason, I call upon You, for You know that we   
   cannot obtain the least thing that is good, either for body or soul,   
   except from You, the Father of mercy and of consolation, the source   
   and giver of all good gifts. You know that we cannot rid ourselves of   
   the least thing that is evil, unless You in Your clemency put it far   
   from us.   
       Filled with hope and confidence in Your sweet Heart, I cry to the   
   Eternal Father: Behold O Father, I have within my heart the sweet   
   Heart of Your dear Son; I offer to You this Heart not that it may   
   accuse me, but plead for me, not cry for vengeance, but for pardon.   
   What can You refuse to this Heart?   
       Nothing assuredly, either to Him or to me, when I ask for His   
   sake. Deliver me, therefore I pray from all my foes and the ills of   
   this life. Help me in my necessities. Grant me grace to end my life by   
   a holy and happy death.   
   -Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)