From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   So do not start worrying   
      
       “So do not start worrying:  Where will my food come from?  Or my   
   drink?  Or my clothes?   These are the things the pagans are always   
   concerned about.  Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these   
   things.  Instead be concerned about everything else with the Kingdom   
   of God and with what He required of you and He will provide You with   
   all those other things.   So do not worry about tomorrow;  it will   
   have enough worries of its own.  There is no need to add to the   
   trouble each day brings.”… (Mt. 6:31-34)   
      
   ============   
   May 27th - St Augustine of Canterbury, OSB   
    (~530-604 )   
   Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle to the English   
      
   “Non Angli, sed angeli” – “They are not Angles, but angels”, an   
   aphorism, summarizing words reported to have been spoken by Pope   
   Gregory I, the Great, when he first encountered pale-skinned English   
   boys at a slave market, inquiring as to who they were and where such   
   people come from.  This sparking his dispatch of St. Augustine of   
   Canterbury to England to convert the English, according to Bede.   
      
   He said: “Well named, for they have angelic faces and ought to be   
   co-heirs with the angels in heaven.” Discovering that their province   
   was Deira, he went on to add that they would be rescued de ira, “from   
   the wrath”, and that their king was named Aella, Alleluia, he said.   
      
   “Most Catholics have heard of St. Augustine: bishop, Father and Doctor   
   of the Church, philosopher, author of the magnificent Confessions and   
   countless other writings. Few, however, have heard of the other St.   
   Augustine, Apostle of the English and Archbishop of Canterbury, whom   
   the Church celebrates today. In 596, he was sent by Pope Gregory the   
   Great to bring the Gospel to the people of England. The island had   
   been Christianized earlier, when it was under Roman control, but much   
   of it had subsequently been overrun by the pagan Angles, Saxons, and   
   Jutes.   
      
   Augustine, as is typical of missionaries, exemplified the virtue of   
   fortitude. Fortitude has two chief characteristics. First and most   
   fundamentally, fortitude consists in enduring obstacles and dangers in   
   the pursuit of some great good. The classic example of fortitude among   
   the pre-Christian philosophers was courage on the battlefield. To   
   withstand the fear of death in fighting for the common good was to   
   endure the greatest threat man can face and to do so in the most noble   
   way. With the rise of Christianity, martyrdom became the epitome of   
   fortitude. Martyrdom involves disregarding the fear of death, even in   
   the face of injustice, for the sake of God and truth.   
      
   Augustine had been a monk in Rome when Gregory called upon him to lead   
   an evangelizing mission of monks to England. Early on in the journey   
   someone related the fierceness of the foreign tribes and the   
   strangeness of their customs to Augustine’s small band. In great fear,   
   the other monks induced Augustine to return to Pope Gregory and beg   
   him to relieve them of their mission. Gregory, however, was zealous   
   for the conversion of the English. He sent Augustine back to the group   
   bearing a gentle but firm exhortation to persevere in the work and   
   endowed him with the authority of abbot over them. Augustine, enduring   
   whatever fears and grumbling may have still been coming from his monks   
   as well as the dangers of a long journey, led them to the shores of   
   the Kingdom of Kent in the southeast corner of England. The king   
   there, Ethelbert, was married to Bertha, a Frankish Christian, and   
   they hoped the king would be amenable to their preaching.   
      
   The second chief aspect of fortitude is well-ordered attacking. The   
   brave man, whenever he is able to reasonably do so, will attack   
   whatever obstacles or evils stand between him and the good. St.   
   Augustine was faced with the superstition of the pagan people he   
   encountered and the hostility of their priests. He attacked it by his   
   preaching and example. When King Ethelbert first received the   
   missionaries, he did so in an open field for fear that if they were in   
   a house the monks would be able to cast a spell on him. After praying   
   to God, Augustine calmly approached and, as the Venerable Bede   
   relates, “preached the word of life to the king and his court.” The   
   king was not immediately converted, but gave the monks a house in his   
   capital of Canterbury and permission to preach throughout his kingdom.   
   Bede says that Augustine and his companions lived as the primitive   
   church did, sharing all things in common to the great edification of   
   the people around them. Through much prayer, work, and sacrifice, they   
   gradually won many English from their paganism to Christ, even King   
   Ethelbert. St. Augustine died about 607, but the church he had founded   
   endured and spread until the whole island was once again Christian.   
      
   Like St. Augustine of Canterbury, we’re faced today with the demise of   
   a once Christian society. If you’re tempted on occasion to despair in   
   the face of the obstacles posed by secularism, just call on St.   
   Augustine for the grace to have the fortitude of a missionary in   
   preaching the “word of life.”   
    byMatthew   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is needful also to make use of tradition, for not everything can be   
   gotten from sacred Scripture. The holy apostles handed down some   
   things in the scriptures, other things in tradition.   
   -- Saint Epiphanius of Salamis   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   May his name endure for ever,   
       his fame continue as long as the sun!   
   May men bless themselves by him,   
       all nations call him blessed!  [Psalm 72:17]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Our Morning Offering   
      
   Come, most gracious Spirit, come!   
   Come, Mercy beyond all words   
   and Grace beyond all comparing.   
   Come, everlasting Fire, Dove unchangeable.   
   come down, in pity and never leave us,   
   inbreathe, inpour Yourself to fill and enliven   
   us with Your Spirit.   
   You are our union, You are our Uniter.   
   Let Your fire join and keep us joined.   
   Feed Your new chicks, most holy Dive   
   and lead them forth.   
   Lead them through to the eternal nest,   
   where with God the Father   
   and the Son You abide for all eternity. Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)