From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Who are the poor?    
      
    Who are the "poor"? Those who live as though they were destitute,   
   without resources, without help, without anything on this earth upon   
   which they can rely. To such poor people God is present. For even if   
   they have plenty of money, they are mindful of what the apostle says:   
   Tell the rich of this world not to be proud or to put their trust in   
   wealth, which is so uncertain. Considering how unreliable are the   
   things that gave them pleasure before they came to the service of God,   
   that is, before they entered the presses of tribulation, they see that   
   their wealth brings with it the pressure of worry about its management   
   and preservation; and if they yield a little to desire so as to love   
   this wealth, instead of enjoying it, they are filled with fear. For   
   what is so unreliable as something that can roll away? It is quite   
   fitting that coined money should be round, since it refuses to stay in   
   one place. Such people, then, in spite of their possessions, are poor.   
   On the other hand, those who have nothing but desire possessions are   
   counted among the reprobate rich. God, after all, is concerned not   
   about our property but about our will.   
   --St. Augustine of Hippo   
      
      
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   May 19th - Blessed Augustine Novello   
   (Also known as Augustine of Tarano, Matthew of Taormina Matteo de’ Termini )   
      
   † 1309   
      
   AUGUSTINE NOVELLO was the name adopted in religion by Matthew of   
   Termini, otherwise Taormina, in Sicily. After a brilliant career at   
   Bologna where he studied and taught law, he became chancellor to King   
   Manfred.   
      
   Wounded and abandoned for dead at the battle of Benevento in which his   
   royal master perished, Matthew vowed that if he recovered, he would   
   devote himself to God’s service. In accomplishment of this promise he   
   entered the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine as a lay-brother,   
   concealing his identity. It is said that Blessed Augustine Novello, a   
   well-known friar in nearby Siena, lived here for a while. He entered   
   the Order after a career as a lawyer in the court of King Manfred in   
   Sicily. After Manfred's death on the battlefield, he fled Sicily and   
   became an Augustinian lay brother, keeping his real identity and   
   talents hidden. The prior of Rosia discovered who he was and passed   
   the news to Rome.   
      
   When the community found itself involved in a very complicated   
   lawsuit, Bl. Augustine offered to set forth their case, and produced a   
   statement so clear, terse and convincing, that the advocate of the   
   opposition is said to have exclaimed: “This must be the work of an   
   angel or of the Devil--or of Matthew de Termini--but he perished at   
   Benevento.” Confronted at his own request with the author of the   
   statement, the lawyer recognized him at once and congratulated the   
   superior upon possessing among his subjects so great a legal luminary.   
      
   Augustine Novello accompanied Bl. Clement of Osimo to Rome, where they   
   drew up together the new constitutions of their order. Pope Nicholas   
   IV appointed him penitentiary to the papal court, and Boniface VIII   
   sent him as legate to Siena. In 1298 Bl. Augustine was elected prior   
   general, but he resigned the office two years later to retire into the   
   hermitage of St. Leonard which he had built near Siena. He died there   
   on May 19, 1309.   
      
   A short life which purports to have been written by a contemporary is   
   in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. iv. See also the Analecta   
   Augustiniana, vol. iv (1908), pp. 326 seq., and vol. iv (1910), pp.   
   120-133. There are a number also of short popular lives, e.g. that of   
   P. Sanfilippo (1833).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "The Lord allows us to be tossed by various passions in this life in   
   order that we may hate these passions with all our heart, that we may   
   look upon everything earthly as nothing, however precious and pleasant   
   it may appear, and that we may long with all our hearts for God alone,   
   the Source of tranquillity and life, may cling to Him alone, may value   
   Him before everything, His holy will, His peace and joy."   
   --St. John of Kronstadt.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and   
   I will raise him up at the last day.  John 6:44  (RSVCE)   
      
      
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   A Morning Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Christ    
      
   Dear Lord, I adore Your Sacred Heart, which I desire to enter with   
   acts of love, praise, adoration and thanksgiving. I offer You my own   
   heart as I sigh to You from its very depths, asking that You will work   
   through me in all that I do this day; thus may I draw You closer to me   
   each day. I offer You all the crosses and sufferings of the world, in   
   union with Your life on earth, in expiation for sins. Please join my   
   every action and heartbeat to the pulsations of Your Heart. I unite   
   all my works of this day to those labors You performed while You were   
   on earth, bathing them in Your precious Blood, and I offer them to the   
   Heavenly Father so that many souls may be saved. - Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)