From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    Silence   
      
   Let us leave a little room for reflection, room too for silence. Enter   
   into yourself, and leave behind all noise and confusion. Look within   
   yourself. See whether there be some delightful hidden place in your   
   consciousness, where  you can be free of noise and argument, where you   
   need not be carrying on your disputes and  planning to have your own   
   stubborn way. Hear the word in quietness, that you may understand  it.   
   --St. Augustine-- Sermon 52, 22   
      
      
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   June 29th - St. Emma, Widow   
      
   THE little Austrian town of Gurk, in Carinthia, which gives his title   
   to an archbishop, derives its origin from a double monastery and a   
   church founded by St. Emma, or Hemma, towards the middle of the 11th   
   century. She was related on her mother's side to the Emperor St.   
   Henry, at whose court she was trained under the watchful eye of St.   
   Cunegund. She was afterwards given in marriage to William, Landgrave   
   of Friesach, and their union was a happy one. Emma and her husband had   
   two children, William and Hartwig, to whom when they were old enough   
   the landgrave gave the supervision and charge of the mines from which   
   he drew part of his wealth. The miners were a wild and lawless band   
   whom the brothers found it difficult to control except by taking   
   measures of extreme severity. After one of the men had been hanged for   
   gross immorality by order of Count William, a number of his companions   
   rose in rebellion and murdered both their young masters.   
      
   When the news was broken to the parents, Emma at first abandoned   
   herself to grief, while the landgrave threatened to destroy all the   
   insurgents, with their wives and children. Nobler counsels, however,   
   prevailed. Emma turned to God in fervent prayer, and her husband   
   pardoned all except the actual perpetrators of the murder. He then   
   undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. But he fell ill on his way back and   
   died within a short distance of his home. Thus bereft of her husband   
   and children, St. Emma devoted her possessions and the remainder of   
   her life to the service of God and of her fellow creatures. Besides   
   giving alms liberally to the poor, she founded several religious   
   houses, of which the chief was the monastery mentioned above. It was   
   located on one of her own estates, and her castle of Gurkhofen formed   
   part of the community buildings. In the two establishments, which were   
   of course entirely separate, provision was made for 20 monks and 70   
   nuns. Between them they kept up the laus perennis.   
      
   The ancient cultus of the Countess Emma was confirmed by the Holy See   
   in 1938; a list supplied by the Congregation of Sacred Rites includes   
   her among the beatae, but she is generally called Saint.   
      
   See A. von Jaksch, Gurker Geschichtsquellen, vol. i (1896); J. Low,   
   Hemmabüchlein (1931); and the publication of the Congregation of   
   Rites, Confirmationis cultus servae Dei Hemmae ... positio (1937).]   
      
   The ancient cultus of the Countess Emma was confirmed by the Holy See   
   in 1938; a list supplied by the Congregation of Sacred Rites includes   
   her among the beatae, but she is generally called Saint.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any   
   way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits   
   of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my   
   quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.   
   -- Saint Ignatius of Antioch   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how distressed I am until   
   it is accomplished!  (Luke 12:50)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to the Apostles Peter and Paul:   
      
      O holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, I choose you this day and for ever   
   to be my special patrons and advocates; thee, Saint Peter, Prince of   
   the Apostles, because thou art the Rock, upon which Almighty God hath   
   built His Church; thee, Saint Paul, because thou wast fore-chosen by   
   God as the Vessel of election and the Preacher of truth in the whole   
   world.  Obtain for me, I pray you, lively faith, firm hope and burning   
   love; complete detachment from myself, contempt of the world, patience   
   in adversity, humility in prosperity, attention in prayer, purity of   
   heart, a right intention in all my works, diligence in fulfilling the   
   duties of my state of life, constancy in my resolutions, resignation   
   to the will of God and perseverance in the grace of God even unto   
   death; that so, by means of your intercession and your glorious   
   merits, I may be able to overcome the temptations of the world, the   
   flesh and the devil, and may be made worthy to appear before the chief   
   and eternal Shepherd of souls, Jesus Christ, who with the Father and   
   the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for endless ages, to enjoy His   
   presence and love Him forever.  Amen.   
      
   V. Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth,   
   R. They shall be mindful of Thy Name, O Lord.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)