From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   What and where is pride?    
      
   Who can fathom his house among the wilderness of the human soul?  Who   
   can see the light that shines dimly from it's upper window, where   
   pride watches for opportunity?  Who sees pride leave his front door   
   toward our mind.  He slips from tree to tree, staying deep in the   
   shadows.  We have sought his paths and not found them.  But silently   
   he approaches.  We talk and talk, do and do.  All the while unaware of   
   his approach.  And when he finally comes upon us, who can tell from   
   which direction he came?   
      
   How very sad is the condition of man that we should be so blind to   
   such a great sin.  Thanks to Jesus for His sacrifice.  Who would be   
   able to stand before the Most High God without the blood of Jesus   
   about him?   
      
   "Now we see, as through a glass darkly.  Then we shall know fully,   
   even as we are fully known".   
   --Saint John Eudes   
      
      
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   March 29: Saint Armogastes and Companions   
   (born, unknown; died circa 460)   
      
   Saint Armogastes together with SS Saturus and Archinimus, was   
   subjected to a life of torture, hard labor, and exile for his faith.   
      
   Armogastes and his companions were high officers and personal servants   
   to Theodoric, son of the Vandal king Genseric. They lived and worked   
   in the royal court, but were also Orthodox Catholics. King Genseric,   
   too, had once followed the faith, but as time went by, became more and   
   more attracted to Arianism, the heretical doctrine that Jesus Christ   
   was not divine. Upon acceptance of this doctrine, he ordered his   
   family and court to renounce their faith and embrace Arianism. In the   
   process, he waged war on Christian lands, conquering Spain, North   
   Africa, and Italy, and eventually invading and looting Rome itself.   
      
   Theodoric, ever the faithful son, submitted to his father’s request,   
   but his servants refused. Led by Armogastes, they professed their   
   belief and faith in Christ, and for that, were tortured in efforts to   
   recant. Saturus’ wife begged him to acquiesce, but he responded using   
   the words of Job: "You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If   
   you loved me, you would give me different advice, and not push me on   
   to a second death. Let them do their worst: I will always remember our   
   Lord's words: 'If any man born to me, and hate not his father and   
   mother, his wife and children, his brethren and sisters, and his own   
   life also, he cannot be my disciple.'"   
      
   Armogastes was bound to an upside-down cross repeatedly, but   
   miraculously, each time the binding broke, freeing him. He was then   
   hoisted aloft by one foot, and left to hang, but again, was saved.   
   Along with his companions, the kind ordered him beheaded with an axe,   
   but was advised by his Arian priests that killing the servants might   
   lead to their veneration as holy martyrs. Instead, Armogastes,   
   Saturus, and Archinimus were sentenced to hard labor at the mines of   
   Byzacena. They persisted in this back-breaking work for years, never   
   losing faith, until they were spared. Armogastes and Saturus were sent   
   to herd cattle in Carthage, where they finished their days. Archinimus   
   was liberated, but spent the remainder of his days begging, having   
   lost everything.   
      
   Armogastes, Saturus, and Archinimus lived at a time of great strife   
   within the Church. Their employer and king had renounced the divinity   
   of Christ, along with almost 50% of priests at the time. And yet,   
   these three men remained faithful and confident in their Lord, their   
   fidelity rewarded only with suffering and punishment. Throughout all,   
   however, even in the exhaustion and darkness of the mines of Byzacena,   
   they never lost hope. Their faith and confidence inspires us today to   
   stand firm in our own beliefs, to not compromise our faith for   
   acceptance by others, and to witness to the world the saving power of   
   Jesus Christ!   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   See my children; the treasure of a Christian is not on the earth, it   
   is in Heaven. Well, our thoughts ought to be where our treasure is.Man   
   has a beautiful occupation, that of praying and loving.You pray, you   
   love --that is the happiness of man upon the earth.   
   --St. Catherine of Genoa   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   The innumerable evils resulting from haste prompts Ecclesiasticus to   
   say: “A wise man will hold his peace till he see opportunity” (Ecclus.   
   20:7).   
      
   It is also for this reason that Isaiah gives the following warnings:   
   “. . . and it shall bud without perfect ripeness and the sprigs   
   thereof shall be cut off with pruning hooks: an what is left shall be   
   cut away and shaken out. And they shall be left together to the birds   
   of the mountains and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be   
   upon them all summer, and the beasts of the earth shall winter upon   
   them” (Isa. 18:5-6).   
      
      
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   Prayer For the Spread of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration   
      
   Heavenly Father, increase our faith in the Real Presence of Your Son, Jesus   
   Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We are obliged to adore Him, to give Him   
   thanks and to make reparation for sins. We need Your peace in our hearts and   
   among nations. We need conversion from our sins and the mercy of Your   
   forgiveness. May we obtain this through prayer and our union with the   
   Eucharistic Lord. Please send down the Holy Spirit upon all peoples to give   
   them the love, courage, strength and willingness to respond to the   
   invitation to Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.   
      
   We beseech You to spread perpetual exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament   
   in parishes around the world.   
      
   We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.   
      
   Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament help us to spread the glory of Your   
   Son through perpetual exposition of the Holy Eucharist.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)