From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The parting words:   
      
      My friends, you have Christian hearts. Think, then; if the words of   
   one who is on the way to the grave are so sweet, so precious, so   
   important to his heirs, what must the last words of Christ mean to his   
   heirs as he departs, not for the grave but for heaven!   
      When a person has lived and died his soul is borne away to another   
   place while his body is laid in the ground. Whether his last request   
   is carried out or not, it matters little to him now. He has other   
   things to do or suffer. His corpse lies in the grave, feeling nothing.   
   And yet his dying wishes are carefully obeyed! If that is so, what   
   will be the lot of those who fail to observe the parting words of the   
   one who is seated in heaven and who looks down to see whether they are   
   flouted or not   
   --Augustine of Hippo   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   December 10th - St. Miltiades, Pope and Martyr   
   Also known as Melchiades, Melquíades   
      
   Memorial   
   10 December   
   formerly 10 January   
      
   d. 314   
      
   So little is known about St. Miltiades that he is now chiefly   
   remembered on account of its having been during his pontificate that   
   the era of the general persecutions came to an end and the Emperor   
   Constantine gave peace to the Church. He was said native of Africa and   
   elected to the papacy on July 2, probably in 312. After the battle at   
   the Milvian Bridge, where Constantine defeated Maxentius on October   
   28, 312, the victorious emperor marched into Rome, and early in 313   
   toleration was granted to Christians (and other religions) throughout   
   the empire; this was followed by the bestowal of privileges on the   
   Church and the removal of legal disabilities.*{*There has been no   
   little debate among the learned about the circumstances of this   
   victory and what followed it.}   
      
    Christian captives were released from the prisons and mines, and all   
   celebrated the victory of Christ with hymns of praise, honouring God   
   day and night with prayer that the peace, which had been granted after   
   ten years of violent persecution, might not be taken away.   
      
   But amidst these rejoicings the Church was disturbed by the beginnings   
   of the Donatist schism in Africa. It arose out of the appointment of   
   Caecilian as bishop of Carthage, whom the party of Donatus alleged to   
   be invalidly consecrated because (as was said) he had delivered up the   
   sacred books under persecution.*{*The Donatists held the erroneous   
   doctrines that sacraments given by an unworthy minister are invalid   
   and that sinners cannot be members of the Church.}   
      
    At the request of Constantine the pope called a synod of Italian and   
   Gaulish bishops at Rome, which decided that Caecilian’s election and   
   consecration were good and valid. St. Augustine, speaking of the   
   moderation, which the pope used in this connection, calls Miltiades an   
   excellent man, a true son of peace and father of Christians. A   
   commemoration is made of him in the liturgy of December 10 as a   
   martyr, because, says the Roman Martyrology, he suffered many things   
   during the persecution of Maximian (before he was bishop of Rome).   
      
      This holy pope saw a door opened by the peace of the Church to the   
   conversion of many, and rejoiced at the triumph of the cross of   
   Christ. But with worldly prosperity a worldly spirit too often broke   
   into the sanctuary itself; insomuch that there was sometimes reason to   
   complain with Isaiah, “Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not   
   increased the joy”.   
      
      Under the pressure of persecution the true spirit of religion was   
   maintained in many during the first ages; yet, amidst the most holy   
   examples and under the influence of strong motives and helps, sin   
   corrupted the hearts of some, who by abuse of grace became abandoned   
   to wickedness. With temporal honours and security love of the world   
   gained the hearts of many more, and they were by ignorance persuaded   
   that they could serve both God and mammon.   
      
   Though material goods and prosperity are a blessing, they are also a danger.   
      
   There is a short account of Pope Miltiades in the Liber Pontificalis,   
   but it tells us little that is trustworthy. A letter of the Emperor   
   Constantine to the pope as well as two other letters connected with   
   the trouble of Bishop Caecilian are preserved by Eusebius, Eccles.   
   Hist. bk x, ch. 5. But the beginnings of the Donatist schism belong   
   rather to general church history. It may suffice here to recommend the   
   treatment of the subject by J. R. Palanque in vol. iii of the Histoire   
   de l’Eglise, ed. Fliche et Martin. St. Miltiades’ true date is January   
   10: cf. CMH., pp. 34 and 428. On the pope’s alleged burial place in   
   the cemetery of Callistus, see Leclercq in DAC., vol. xi, cc.   
   1199-1203; and on the Roman synod, E. Caspar in the Zeitschrift für   
   Kirchengeschichte, vol. xlvi (1927), pp. 333-346. For the   
   Constantinian problems see N. H. Baynes, Constantine the Great and the   
   Christian Church (1929).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   We should love the poor with peculiar affection, beholding in them the   
   very person of Christ, and showing them the same consideration that He   
   did.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    "That is why even the earlier covenant was inaugurated with blood,   
   and why, after Moses had promulgated all the commandments of the Law   
   to the people, he took the calves' blood, the goats' blood and some   
   water, and with these he sprinkled the book itself and all the people,   
   ......In fact according to the Law, practically every purification   
   takes place by means of blood; and if there is no shedding of blood,   
   there is no remission." [of sins].  [Hebrews 9:18-22]   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A SPIRIT TO KNOW YOU   
      
   Gracious and Holy Father,   
   Please give me:   
   intellect to understand you,   
   reason to discern you,   
   diligence to seek you,   
   wisdom to find you,   
   a spirit to know you,   
   a heart to meditate upon you,   
   ears to hear you,   
   eyes to to see you,   
   a tongue to proclaim you,   
   a way of life pleasing to you,   
   patience to wait for you   
   and perseverance to look for you.   
   Grant me a perfect end,   
   your holy presence,   
   a blessed resurrection   
   and life everlasting.   
      
   (By St. Benedict of Nursia, ca. 480-547   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)