From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   We must rise to holiness    
      
      The result of our undergoing a conversion from one state to another   
   is that we cease to be what we were and begin to be something more.   
   But the end of our dying or living is of the utmost importance, for   
   there is a death that brings life, and a life that brings death. It is   
   only in this fleeting world that both are sought together, so that the   
   difference in our future rewards depends upon the quality of our   
   present actions. We must therefore be dead to Satan and alive to God;   
   we must abandon sin in order to rise to holiness. And since Truth   
   himself says: No one can serve two masters, let our master be the Lord   
   who has raised up the fallen to glory, not the one who has brought the   
   upright to ruin.   
   --Leo the Great:   
      
      
   ==============   
   May 24th - Saint Vincent of Lerins   
   (died 445)   
      
    Saint Vincent of Lerins was a monk and leading theologian of the   
   church of Gaul, and author of the Commonitorium--a guide to orthodox   
   Catholic teaching. In his writings, Saint Vincent strove to eradicate   
   heresies, and offered instruction for the discernment of true and   
   false tradition via what has come to be known as the Vincentian Canon:   
   “quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus credituni est:” "what has   
   been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” Saint Vincent believed   
   that the ultimate source of Christian truth was Holy Scripture and   
   that the authority of the Church was to be invoked to guarantee the   
   correct interpretation of Scripture.   
      
   Vincent was born to a noble family in Gaul, and was likely the brother   
   of Saint Lupus. Bishop of Troyes. As a young man, Vincent served in   
   the army as a soldier, but later embraced the monastic life, settling   
   on the island of Lerins off the southern coast of France. There, he   
   wrote, he could “avoid the concourse and crowds of cities... I can   
   follow without distraction the Psalmist's admonition, “Be still, and   
   know that I am God.” Vincent was ordained at Lerins, and set about   
   writing his work, the Commonitorium, a "Reminder," where he wrote down   
   "those things which I have truthfully received from the holy Fathers,"   
   which they "have handed down to us and committed to our keeping."   
      
   St. Vincent lived in an age of great historical change: constant   
   invasions threatened Christians society, and the foundations of the   
   faith had been only recently been solidified via Ecumencial Council.   
   Based upon this uncertainty, Saint Vincent strove tirelessly to   
   preserve the authority of Christian tradition. He was not opposed to   
   progress or doctrinal development, recognizing that as society   
   evolves, so do challenges requiring a solid Christian response and   
   teaching.  In his words, "...but it must be progress in the proper   
   sense of the word, and not a change in faith. Progress means that each   
   thing grows within itself, whereas change implies that one thing is   
   transformed into another .... The growth of religion in the soul   
   should be like the growth of the body, which in the course of year   
   develops and unfolds, yet remains the same as it was."   
      
   Saint Eucherius of Lyons referred to Saint Vincent as "a jewel shining   
   with the brilliance of his spiritual life.” His Acts are recorded by   
   Gennadius:   
      
   “Vincentius, the Gaul, presbyter in the Monastery on the Island of   
   Lerins, a man learned in the Holy Scriptures and very well informed in   
   matters of ecclesiastical doctrine, composed a powerful disputation,   
   written in tolerably finished and clear language, which, suppressing   
   his name, he entitled 'Peregrinus against heretics'. The greater part   
   of the second book of this work having been stolen, he composed a   
   brief reproduction of the substance of the original work, and   
   published in one book. He died in the reign of Theodosius and   
   Valentinianus.”   
      
      
   From a homily by Father James Thorton: “In his great work, the Saint   
   tells us that we may discover the truth first through reading Holy   
   Scripture, for that is the basis of everything. Yet, he points out,   
   men may differ in their interpretation of Holy Scripture. How may we   
   know which interpretation is the correct one? We know by consulting   
   the writings of authorities within the Church, the great Saints and   
   Church Fathers, and this we do carefully. In Saint Vincent’s words:   
   “[I]n the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken,   
   that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by   
   all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholic,’ which,   
   as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends   
   all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality,   
   antiquity, and consent. We shall follow universality if we confess   
   that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world   
   confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those   
   interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy   
   ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself   
   we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or   
   at the least of almost all priests and doctors.”   
      
   Saint Vincent of Lerins reminds us that progress should not occur at   
   the expense of tradition and the long-standing tenets and beliefs of   
   the faithful. In a society where change is considered the hallmark of   
   progress, we might reflect on the orthodoxy of Saint Vincent, as an   
   inspiration and reminder of the long-standing traditions of the   
   Church, and their firm grounding in the teachings of Jesus Christ.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
    Being of one mind one towards another. Not minding high things, but   
   consenting to the humble. Be not wise in your own conceits. [Romans   
   12:16] DRB   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   How I loved the feasts!….   
   I especially loved the processions in honour   
   of the Blessed Sacrament.   What a joy it was   
   for me to throw flowers beneath the feet of God!…   
   I was never so happy as when I saw my roses   
   touch the sacred Monstrance…”   
   – from St. Therese’s Autobiography Story of A Soul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)