From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Humble Submission to God  [II]   
      
       When a man humbly admits his faults, he soon appeases his fellows,   
   and is reconciled to those whom he had offended. God protects and   
   delivers a humble man; He loves and comforts him (I Pet.5:5; James   
   4:6). To the humble He leans down and bestows great success, raising   
   him from abasement to honour. To him He reveals His secrets   
   (Matt.9:25) and lovingly calls and draws him to Himself. Even in the   
   midst of trouble, the humble man remains wholly at peace, for he   
   trusts in God, and not in the world. Do not consider yourself to have   
   made any spiritual progress, unless you account yourself the least of   
   all men.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 2, Ch 2   
      
      
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   July 8th - St. Withburga   
    (Also known as Withburge, Witburh)   
      
   Died March 17, c. 743; other feasts are celebrated on April 18 at   
   Cambridge and on March 17; today's feast commemorates her translation.   
   She was the youngest daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. Like   
   her holy sisters, she devoted herself to the divine service, and led   
   an austere life in solitude for several years at Holkham, near the   
   seacoast in Norfolk, where a church dedicated to her was afterwards   
   built. After the death of her father she changed her abode to East   
   Dereham, now a market town in Norfolk, but then an obscure place of   
   retirement.   
      
   Withburga assembled there some devout maidens, and laid the foundation   
   of a church and convent, but did not live to finish the buildings. Her   
   body was interred in the churchyard at East Dereham and 50 years later   
   was found incorrupt and translated into the church. In 974, with   
   soldiers and under the cover of night but with the blessing of King   
   Edgar and Saint Ethelwold, Abbot Brithnoth of Ely removed it to Ely.   
   They moved the body to wagons, drove 20 miles to Brandun River, and   
   continued their journey by boat—much to the dismay of the men of   
   Dereham who had pursued them by land and could only watch helplessly   
   as their treasure drifted away. At Ely Brithnoth deposited Withburga's   
   relics near the bodies of her two sisters.   
      
   In 1102, Withburga's relics were moved into a new part of the church.   
   In 1106, the remains of four saints were translated into the new   
   church and laid near the high altar. The bodies of Saints Sexburga and   
   Ermenilda were reduced to dust, except the bones. That of Saint   
   Etheldreda was entire, and that of Saint Withburga was not only sound   
   but also fresh, and the limbs flexible. This is related by Thomas,   
   monk of Ely, in his history of Ely, which he wrote the following year.   
      
   He also tells us that in the place where Saint Withburga was first   
   buried, in the churchyard at Dereham, a spring of clear water gushed   
   forth when her body was first exhumed: it is to this day called Saint   
   Withburga's well. The church at Holkham is dedicated to her honor   
   (Benedictines, Farmer, Walsh).   
      
   In art, Saint Withburga is portrayed as an abbess with two hinds at   
   her feet because William of Malmesbury described her as being provided   
   milk in her solitude by a doe. She may be holding a church inscribed   
   Ecclia de Estderham. She is venerated at Barham, Burlingham, and   
   Dereham in Norfolk (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   I am gently going to my grave. It is the will of God, and I thank Him   
   very much for letting me die of the same disease and in the same way   
   as my lepers. I am very satisfied and very happy.   
   --Blessed Father Damien de Veuster   
      
   Bible Quote   
   But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God,   
   rather than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you   
   put to death, hanging him upon a tree. Him hath God exalted with his   
   right hand, to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel,   
   and remission of sins.  (Acts 5:29-31)   
      
      
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   Be simple as doves.  [Matt. 10:16 ]  July: Simplicity   
      
   31. God is a Being most simple in His essence, admitting no   
   composition whatever. If, then, we desire to render ourselves as much   
   like Him as possible, we should endeavor to be by virtue what He is by   
   nature; that is, we ought to have a simple heart, a simple soul, a   
   simple intention, a simple mode of action. We ought to speak simply,   
   and to act frankly, without deceit or artifice, always letting our   
   exterior reflect our interior, and never regarding anything in all our   
   actions except God, Whom alone we endeavor and desire to please.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Such, in fact, was the simplicity of this Saint, for his exterior was   
   always in entire conformity to his interior. Whoever heard his words   
   could immediately know what was in his heart, which he always kept   
   upon his lips. And however numerous and varied might be his   
   occupations, they all had the same end, which was to please God alone.   
   It might be truly said that he possessed this virtue to such a degree   
   that the faculties of his soul were wholly steeped in it, and whatever   
   he said or did proceeded from this source.   
      
   ("A Year with the Saints".   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)