From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Zeal in Amending our Lives  (11)    
      
   Always remember your end and do not forget that lost time never returns.   
   Without care and diligence you will never acquire virtue.   
   When you begin to grow lukewarm, you are falling into the beginning of evil;   
   but if you give yourself to fervor, you will find peace and will experience   
   less hardship because of God’s grace and the love of virtue.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 25   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   April 27th - Blessed Peter Armengol   
   (1238-1304)   
      
    Peter was a Merdedarian friar who came to serve the Lord later in   
   life, following a misspent and dissolute youth. Having given up the   
   world, he worked tirelessly for the ransom of captives, all the while   
   atoning for his own sins. Blessed Peter Armengol is a model of   
   confidence. His life inspires everyone who, amid the crisis of the   
   modern world, needs special graces from Our Lady to remain completely   
   faithful.   
      
   Peter was born in Guadria dels Prats, Tarragona, Spain. Of noble   
   birth, he was related to the Counts of Urgel, and raised in the luxury   
   and lifestyle of nobility. Despite his parents best attempts to raise   
   and educate him piously, Peter was drawn into bad company as a young   
   man, and entered into the life of a bandit. He joined a gang of   
   criminals who, pursued by the authorities, lived in the mountains,   
   preying on the unsuspecting travelers of the region. Soon, Peter   
   became the leader of the gang.   
      
   On account of his Peter’s bad behavior, his father, Arnold Armengol de   
   Moncada, moved to the kingdom of Valencia. There, he was employed by   
   King Jaime, and served as an advance ambassador when the monarch   
   traveled. In 1258, the monarch’s travels took him through the region   
   controlled by Peter’s band of ruffians, and father and son found   
   themselves face-to-face, locked in hand-to-hand combat. When Peter   
   realized who he was attempting to rob, he was overcome by grief, and   
   fell at his father’s feet, begging for forgiveness and mercy. The Lord   
   changed his heart that day, and Peter resolved to change his life.   
      
   Desiring nothing more than to atone for his sins, and repair his   
   relationship with the Lord, Peter petitioned the Mercedarian Order at   
   Barcelona to allow him entrance. There, he became a monk in the order   
   founded by Saint Peter Nolasco, and worked tirelessly to ransom   
   Catholics captured by the Mohammedans. Bl. Peter worked throughout   
   Spain, converting many and freeing those enslaved. Throughout his   
   mission work, he lived a life of humility, complete obedience to the   
   Lord, penance, mortification, and continual prayer.   
      
   Wishing nothing more than to journey to Africa and be imprisoned so   
   that others might go free, Peter was eventually sent to that   
   continent. On his first visit, he successfully ransomed 119 captives   
   without any incident. However, before departing, Friar Peter learned   
   of a prison with 18 children who, impelled by the threats of   
   punishments of the barbarous Mohammedans, remained in danger of   
   denying the Faith. The religious happily offered himself as hostage   
   for the ransom of the innocent captives. His release was promised in   
   exchange for a stipulated sum. But, if the payment did not arrive   
   within the set time, he would suffer harsh punishments. Peter,   
   especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin, maintained complete   
   confidence that he would be provided for. The children were freed, and   
   he took their place in prison.   
      
   While imprisoned, Bl. Peter converted many of his captors through both   
   his preaching and his ministry of charity. Throughout all, he prayed   
   to the Blessed Virgin, Our Mother, and maintained his confidence in   
   the Divine Grace of the Lord. Over time, the required money was not   
   paid, and his captors grew tired of his cheerful attitude. They moved   
   Peter to a less comfortable prison, denied him of food, and tortured   
   him mercilessly. As he was unable to be broken in spirit, they   
   condemned him to death by hanging. Even then, when everything seemed   
   lost, Blessed Peter prayed to Our Lady and confided in her.   
      
   The execution was carried out and Peter’s body was left hanging from   
   the gallows, as the custom was for birds of prey to feed on the   
   corpses of those who were killed. Six days had elapsed when the   
   Mercedarian emissary arrived with the required ransom money. Learning   
   that he was too late, the emissary went with great sorrow, in the   
   company of some captives, to see the lamentable sight. Reaching the   
   site of the execution, he noticed that the body did not emit a bad   
   odor, but rather exhaled a heavenly fragrance. To their astonishment,   
   Friar Armengol spoke, telling them that the Blessed Mother saved his   
   life.   
      
   Bl. Peter returned to Barcelona, where he was questioned about his   
   miraculous survival. Only when ordered by his superior to reveal what   
   happened, did Peter recount: “The Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our   
   own mother, asked her Most Holy Son to conserve my life; having   
   obtained this favor, this same sovereign Queen sustained me with her   
   most holy hands, so that the weight of my body would not hang upon the   
   rope by which I was suspended.”   
      
   Blessed Peter suffered a twisted neck and pale complexion from his   
   hanging, for the remainder of his life. While these afflictions caused   
   him pain and suffering, he nonetheless retained his cheerful, humble,   
   and charitable disposition. He retired to the monastery of Our Lady de   
   los Prados, where he lived for his remaining 40 years, in constant   
   communion with Our Blessed Mother and the Lord. There he was buried,   
   and his relics are venerated still today.  He is considered a martyr   
   by the Church, given his profound willingness to suffer and die for   
   his faith.   
      
   Recalling the miracle of his hanging, he frequently told the religious   
   of the monastery of this marvel: “Believe me, my dear brothers, that I   
   do not believe myself to have lived except for those few but most   
   happy days when, hanging from the gallows, I was held to be dead.”   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering, nor by the meager fruit of   
   your labours. Remember that God rewards not according to results, but   
   effort.   
   --Blessed Zefirino Agostini   
      
   Bible Quote   
    Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good   
   for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those   
   who hear.  [Ephesians 4:29]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   O Lord, Enkindle Our Lamps   
      
   O Lord,   
   grant us that love   
   which can never die,   
   which will enkindle our lamps   
   but not extinguish them,   
   so that they may shine in us   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)