From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   -- John 10:3 --   
      
   To him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear his voice. And he   
   calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.   DRB   
   ===================   
   Jesus knows us by name. How long could you go without hearing someone   
   say your name? A week? An hour? At some point. you would break down,   
   desperate to know that someone was speaking directly to you. When   
   Jesus met Nathaniel, He said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom   
   there is no guile." (John 1:47b). Nathaniel was awed that Jesus knew   
   him without having ever met him--and the same awe overtakes us when we   
   realize that He knows us that well, too. He knows us and calls us by   
   name. Jesus gives us the opportunity to see and know God. But He also   
   gives us the opportunity to be known by Him.   
      
      
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   March 1st - St. Albinus (Aubin) of Angers, Bishop   
      
   Born in Vannes, Brittany, France; died c. 554. Here is another saint   
   of whose childhood we know next to nothing, except that he was of   
   Irish and English descent and lived in Brittany. He comes out of the   
   unknown and enters, as it were, another unknown--for after renouncing   
   the fortune of his father, he enters the cloistered life, giving   
   himself to prayer and silence and solitude.   
      
   At the age of 35, he was abbot of Tincillac Monastery near Angers. The   
   stories that come down to us show one thing quite clearly: He is a man   
   who detests anything that is adulterated, whether it be the Rule of   
   St. Benedict, the sacraments of the Christian faith, or the human   
   body. We might say of him that his mouth never lost its taste for   
   spring water.   
      
   In 529 the people of Angers succeeded in having Albinus chosen as   
   their bishop, not so much because they respected his concern for their   
   faith but because they knew his upright character would protect them   
   well against the civil and military authorities. These people knew how   
   to pick someone to protect their interests.   
      
   Albinus soon came into conflict with Childebert, the son of Clovis. A   
   certain noble lady named Etheria, unable to pay her debts, was thrown   
   into prison, and called for her bishop to visit her. Bishops like   
   Albinus have the sacraments in their blood, in their muscles, in their   
   hands, in their mouths, in their very gestures; so that when Etheria   
   and Albinus were attacked by one of the guards, Albinus simply blew a   
   puff of breath upon the guard who (tradition says) died upon the spot.   
      
   If the story is true, or even if it were untrue but believed in   
   locally, it is not hard to understand how the authority and fear of   
   Albinus spread rapidly throughout the territory, or to explain why the   
   creditors canceled the debts of all prisoners at the simple suggestion   
   of the new bishop.   
      
   Albinus's next project was to release all the prisoners from another   
   jail at Angers, not that he failed to recognise the inmates were   
   criminals rather than gentle lambs, but because he lost faith in the   
   prison system, at least the one in his see.   
      
   He went to the judge and requested amnesty; but when he was refused,   
   he convoked a huge gathering of his flock about the prison, led   
   everyone in prayer until a huge stone was released, which plunged   
   through the walls of the jail. Out came the prisoners, like water   
   through a spout, to be led to the bishop's church where they were busy   
   with prayers and promises of amendment through the night.   
      
   No biographer has ever suggested that these prisoners to a man were   
   converted into saints, but the bishop no doubt believed their release   
   was considerably better than the brutality of prison life in those   
   days.   
      
   Albinus convoked local councils, reformed his church, fought abuses in   
   civil and ecclesiastical marriage laws, and opposed errors of faith.   
   He took a prominent role in the third council of Orleans in 538. His   
   popularity is beyond dispute as is shown by the very number of towns   
   named for him. Legend reports that whole villages were converted and   
   baptized together as a result of his preaching.   
      
   Albinus did not die a martyr, rather his body simply wore out. The   
   abbey of Saint-Aubin in Angers was erected in his memory. Saint-Aubin   
   de Moeslain (Haute Marne) is even today a popular place of pilgrimage   
   (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia).   
      
   In art, St. Albinus is portrayed as a blind bishop. He is venerated at   
   Angers, Brittany, Haute Marne, and is invoked for children in danger   
   of death (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Prayer is nothing else but union with God. In this intimate union, God   
   and the soul are fused together like two bits of wax that no one can   
   ever pull apart. This union of God with a tiny creature is a lovely   
   thing. It is a happiness beyond understanding.   
   --Saint John Vianney   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Jesus answered, and said to her: If thou didst know the gift of God,   
   and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps   
   wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.   
   John 4:10   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The sacrifice of bread and wine   
      
      In the time of the Old Testament, patriarchs, prophets, and priests   
   sacrificed animals in honor of the Son as well as the Father and the   
   Holy Spirit. Now in the time of the New Testament the holy Catholic   
   Church throughout the world never ceases to offer the sacrifice of   
   bread and wine, in faith and love, to him and to the Father and the   
   Holy Spirit, with whom he shared one Godhead.   
      In those ancient victims the body and blood of Christ were   
   prefigured: the body which the sinless one would offer as propitiation   
   for our sins, and the blood which he would pour out for our   
   forgiveness. The Church's sacrifice, on the other hand, is an act of   
   thanksgiving and a memorial of the body Christ has offered for us and   
   the blood he has shed for us. With this in mind, blessed Paul says in   
   the Acts of the Apostles: Keep watch over yourselves and over the   
   whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as bishops to   
   rule the Church of God, which he won for himself by his blood.   
      Those sacrifices of old pointed in sign to what was to be given to   
   us. In this sacrifice we see plainly what has already been given to   
   us.   
   --Fulgentius of Ruspe   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)