From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Of the Body of Christ and Holy Scriptures [I]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    Dearest Lord Jesus, how great is the joy of the devout soul who   
   feasts at Your banquet, where the food set before it is none other   
   than Your very Self, its only-Beloved, desirable above all the heart's   
   desire! How deeply I long to pour out my heartfelt tears in Your   
   presence, and like the devoted Magdalen, bathe Your feet with my   
   tears. (Luke 7:38: John 12:3) But where is my devotion? And where this   
   flood of holy tears? Surely, in Your presence and that of Your holy   
   Angels my whole heart should burn and melt for joy! For here You are   
   truly present with me in Your Sacrament, though veiled beneath another   
   form.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch. 11   
      
      
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   April 19th – Bl. James Duckett, Martyr   
   (d. 1602)   
      
   When modern totalitarian governments have taken over their countries,   
   one of their earliest measures has been to forbid the publication of   
   books contrary to their ideologies. The leaders of the English   
   Reformation had adopted the same policy regarding the distribution of   
   Catholic literature. Therefore, religious books for English Catholics   
   had either to be printed abroad and smuggled in, or manufactured at   
   home on secret presses. British law considered the distributors of   
   such writings as felons, subject to capital punishment.   
      
   Saint James Duckett, an English Catholic layman, died in defense of   
   the right to spread Catholic doctrine by the printed word. James was a   
   member of an old North Country family. He was born at Gilfortriggs in   
   Westermoreland, at a date not determined. As a youth he was   
   apprenticed to a London printer.   
      
   Duckett had been raised a Protestant. In London, however, a Catholic   
   friend loaned him a book called The Firm Foundation of the Catholic   
   Religion. James found the arguments in this book so convincing that he   
   ceased to attend worship at his Protestant parish church, St. Edmund’s   
   on Lombard Street.   
      
   Now, nonattendance at Anglican services was one of the warning signs   
   recognized by the British government in its religious controls. When   
   the rector of St. Edmund’s called James to account for his   
   nonattendance, the young apprentice stated candidly that he would   
   continue to absent himself until better arguments in favor of   
   Protestantism were brought forth than he had heard thus far.   
      
   Duckett was therefore sentenced to jail for nonattendance, on not one   
   but two occasions: first at Bridewell Prison and second at “The   
   Compter” prison. On both occasions his employer secured his release.   
   After that, however, the employer, deciding that this apprentice was   
   too controversial for convenience, revoked his contract of   
   apprenticeship. On his own now, James asked instruction in the   
   Catholic faith from Father Weekes, an aged priest imprisoned at   
   Gatehouse prison in the Westminster section of London. Two months   
   later, Weekes received him into the Catholic Church.   
      
   From the time of his conversion, James Duckett led an admirable and   
   dedicated life. He married a Catholic widow and she bore him a son who   
   subsequently became a Carthusian monk in Flanders. Most of the   
   printer’s efforts during his Catholic years were devoted to the   
   publication and circulation of Catholic literature. It was a hazardous   
   apostolate, and for his pains he spent nine of the twelve years of his   
   married life in one jail after another across England.   
      
   His last arrest was brought about by the accusation of a bookbinder   
   named Peter Bullock. Bullock, found guilty and sentenced to death for   
   some other felony, apparently thought he might save his own life by   
   turning state’s evidence. He therefore testified at James’s trial that   
   he had bound some Catholic books at Duckett’s request. James candidly   
   admitted to the court that he had manufactured and distributed a   
   number of Catholic publications. The jury at first did not want to   
   convict him on the testimony of a single witness. However, the judge   
   insisted that they change their verdict from “not guilty” to “guilty.”   
      
   Mrs. Duckett visited her condemned husband in prison. When he saw her   
   tears, he said, “If I were made the queen’s secretary or treasurer,   
   you would not weep. Do but keep yourself God’s servant and in the   
   unity of God’s Church, and I shall be able to do you more good, being   
   now to go to the King of Kings.”   
      
   James Duckett was carted to the gallows at Tyburn in the same cart as   
   Bullock the bookbinder. His witness against Duckett had won him no   
   reprieve. Along the route from prison, Mrs. Duckett presented her   
   husband with a pint of wine. He drank a glass of it and urged her to   
   drink one in honor of Peter Bullock, and to hold no grudge against   
   him. On the scaffold, James assured Peter in so many words of his   
   forgiveness, and urged him to die a Catholic. Then, after the ropes   
   had been placed around their necks, Duckett kissed his betrayer. Pope   
   Pius XI beatified this “bookseller for Christ” in 1929.   
   –Father Bob   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   We must say many prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, for   
   one must be so pure to enter heaven.   
   --Saint John Vianney   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow   
   out of the snare of the fowlers.   
   The snare is broken, and we are delivered.   
   Our help is in the name of the Lord,   
   who made heaven and earth.  [Psa 124:7-8]  DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Thank God sincerely.   
   There is nearly always something you can be thankful for. The offering   
   of thanksgiving is indeed a sweet incense going up to God throughout a   
   busy day. Seek diligently for something to be glad and thankful about.   
   You will acquire in time the habit of being constantly grateful to God   
   for all His blessings. Each new day some new cause for joy and   
   gratitude will spring to your mind and you will thank God sincerely.   
   --Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)