From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Believe and take Jesus at his word   
      
   It took raw bold courage for a high ranking court official to travel   
   twenty miles in search of Jesus, the Galilean carpenter. He had to   
   swallow his pride and put up with some ridicule from his friends. And   
   when he found the healer carpenter, Jesus seemed to put him off with   
   the blunt statement that people would not believe unless they saw some   
   kind of miracle or sign from heaven. Jesus likely said this to test   
   the man to see if his faith was in earnest. If he turned away in   
   irritation or with discouragement, he would prove to be insincere.   
   Jesus, perceiving his faith, sent him home with the assurance that his   
   prayer had been heard. [John 4:43-54]   
      
      
   ============   
   March 25th - St. Dismas   
   (Died c. A.D. 33)   
      
   One of the most touching episodes that took place on Calvary was the   
   appeal for mercy uttered by one of the two thieves crucified with   
   Jesus, and Our Savior’s promise of mercy. You will recall the   
   conversation that Luke’s Gospel records. Christ’s enemies were yelling   
   taunts and accusations at the “King of the Jews.” Even one of the two   
   criminals being executed with Him joined in the chorus of blasphemy.   
      
   Surprisingly enough, the other criminal dared to speak well rather   
   than badly of Jesus. The unexpectedness of his remarks was no doubt   
   the reason why they have been so carefully preserved. He rebuked the   
   sneers of the other thief. “Have you no fear of God, seeing you are   
   under the same sentence?” “We deserve it, after all,” he continued.   
   “We are only paying the price for what we’ve done, but this man has   
   done nothing wrong.”   
      
   Oh, if we could only read the mind of the “good thief” at this moment!   
   At least we can conjecture his train of thought. “He has done nothing   
   wrong – we have; and are paying for our misdeeds.”   
      
   Whether his awareness of the goodness of Jesus had been longstanding,   
   or whether it had been revealed to him in a moment of grace, we cannot   
   say. Nevertheless, he now saw the contrast between the wonderful life   
   of Christ and his own wretched career. This perception brought   
   remorse; with remorse, came grief; with grief, the supernatural   
   conviction that Jesus could forgive him.   
      
   Might the sinner have been himself a Galilean? Might he even have   
   chanced to listen to Christ one day as He preached in Galilee? Perhaps   
   he had heard Him say, “I give you my word: every sin will be forgiven   
   mankind and all the blasphemies men utter.” (Mark, 3:28). Of course,   
   the thief would have been scornful then, but never quite forgotten.   
      
   More likely, though, in his own last hour, there came back to mind   
   words of the psalm that he had once known by heart, but long since (as   
   he thought) dismissed. “Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord; Lord,   
   hear my voice. For with the Lord is kindness … and He will redeem   
   Israel from all their iniquities.” (Ps. 130).   
      
   At all events, the condemned criminal entered into conversation with   
   Jesus, first indirectly, by rebuking his fellow criminal; then,   
   directly by asking with shy humility, “Jesus, remember me when you   
   enter upon your reign.”   
      
   And Christ answered him, recognizing the thief’s true faith, “I assure   
   you, this day you will be with me in paradise.” (Lk 23, 43). It was   
   the last great moral miracle of the Savior’s public life. He had   
   snatched this brand from the fire just as it was about to be consumed.   
      
   That promise was not a canonization. The “paradise” where Jesus said   
   He would shortly meet the repentant thief was what others would call   
   the “Limbo of the Fathers.” It was the place (or, rather, state) in   
   which those who had died believing in the coming Messiah were waiting   
   for the good news of the redemption, which alone would give them   
   entree to heaven. Jesus Himself had also referred to it as the “bosom   
   of Abraham.” And true to His promise to this last of the holy people   
   of the Old Testament, Our Lord, upon His own death, “descended into   
   this hell (= Limbo) that we speak of in the Apostles’ Creed. As St.   
   Peter would write, “It was in the spirit also that He (Jesus) went to   
   preach to the spirits in prison.” (Pet. 3:20).   
      
   Pious Christian imagination has long since attempted to fill out with   
   fiction the details of this stirring eleventh-hour conversion. Some   
   writers gave the thieves the names of Zoathan and Chammatha; although   
   the name Gestas for the impenitent thief and Dismas for the repentant   
   one became the most widely accepted. It is under the name “St. Dismas”   
   that the Good Thief is assigned a feast on March 25, the supposed date   
   of Christ’s death.   
      
   There is no need to stoop to fiction in telling Dismas’ story. St.   
   Luke gives us more than enough to convey the message. He is repeating,   
   in essence, the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Though your sins be like   
   scarlet, they may become white as wool.” (Isa.1:18).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "He who wishes to be perfectly obeyed, should give but few orders."   
   --St. Philip Neri   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   18 But the path of the just is like shining light,   
   that grows in brilliance till perfect day.*   
   19 The way of the wicked is like darkness;   
   they do not know on what they stumble.  (Proverbs 4:18-19)   
      
      
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   Prayer To Live In God's Presence   
      
   God, my Father,   
   You have promised to remain forever with those   
   who do what is just and right.   
   Help me to live in Your presence.   
   The loving plan of Your Wisdom was made known when   
   Jesus, your Son, became man like us.   
   I want to obey His commandment of love   
   and bring Your peace and joy to others.   
   Keep before me the wisdom and love   
   You have made known in Your Son.   
   Help me to be like Him in word and deed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)