From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Grace Must Be Hidden Under the Mantle of Humility (1)   
      
   The Voice of Christ   
   IT IS better and safer for you to conceal the grace of devotion, not   
   to be elated by it, not to speak or think much of it, and instead to   
   humble yourself and fear lest it is being given to one unworthy of it.   
   Do not cling too closely to this affection, for it may quickly be   
   changed to its opposite. When you are in grace, think how miserable   
   and needy you are without it. Your progress in spiritual life does not   
   consist in having the grace of consolation, but in enduring its   
   withdrawal with humility, resignation, and patience, so that you   
   neither become listless in prayer nor neglect your other duties in the   
   least; but on the contrary do what you can do as well as you know how,   
   and do not neglect yourself completely because of your dryness or   
   anxiety of mind.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 7   
      
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   June 8th - Saint Medard of Noyon   
   Also known as Medardus   
   (d. 545)   
      
   St. Medard, one of the most illustrious prelates of the Church of   
   France in the late fifth and the sixth century, was born in Picardy of   
   a pious and noble family in about the year 457, in the time of   
   Childeric and St. Remigius. His brother, St. Gildard, would later   
   become Archbishop of Rouen; St. Owen and other authors say they were   
   twins.   
      
   From his childhood St. Medard manifested the most tender compassion   
   for the poor. On one occasion he gave a fine new cloak to a destitute   
   blind man, and when asked why he had done so, he answered that the   
   misery of a fellow member in Christ so affected him that he could not   
   refuse to give him part of his own clothes. He gave one of his   
   father’s horses to a poor man who had just lost his only horse by an   
   accident; but when his father counted his animals that evening, he   
   found the number unaltered. This miracle caused the parents to allow   
   their son to bestow alms as he wished. As a young man he prophesied to   
   a companion and friend, the future St. Eleutherius, that he would   
   later be raised to the government of the see of Tournai.   
      
   St. Medard and his brother Gildard were ordained by the bishop of   
   Vermand while still relatively young; after being tonsured together   
   they pursued the same ecclesiastical studies under the bishops of   
   Tournai and Vermand. The annals tell us that, to assist St. Remigius,   
   the two brothers were present in the cathedral of Rheims, for the   
   baptism of Clovis and his large army of Franks in 496. St. Gildard was   
   named to the archbishopric of Rouen towards the end of the century,   
   where according to its archives, he provided in all things for the   
   needs of his people until he died in 545.   
      
   St. Medard after acceding to the priesthood became a bright ornament   
   of that sacred Order. He preached the word of God in the churches of   
   Picardy, with an unction which touched the hearts of the most   
   hardened; and the powerful influence of his example and his unfailing   
   charity, by which he enforced the precepts which he delivered from the   
   pulpit, was resisted by few. Some incidents were recorded concerning   
   this holy priest. Several thieves had taken from his terrain various   
   items, such as a harvest of grapes or a fund of honey, even a bull.   
   The stealer of honey was pursued by the bees until he came to confess   
   his larceny at the priest’s feet and ask pardon; the bull thief had to   
   bring the animal back because the bell around its neck never stopped   
   ringing. And finally, the bishop bestowed upon the repentant ones the   
   goods they had taken without permission.   
      
   In the year 530, the 13th bishop of Vermand died, and St. Medard was   
   unanimously chosen to fill the vacancy. He was consecrated by St.   
   Remigius, bishop of Rheims. The new bishop found it necessary to   
   transfer the seat of his episcopacy, because the region of Vermand had   
   been recently devastated during the invasions of the Huns and Vandals.   
   Profanation was threatening; thus he moved his center to Noyon. Pope   
   Hormisdas named him also to the episcopal throne of Tournai, uniting   
   the two dioceses without depriving either city of its episcopal title.   
      
   At Tournai, where the barbarians were numerous, he was treated with   
   opprobrium and often threatened with death; he nonetheless overcame   
   the rudeness of the infidels and libertines and brought about so many   
   conversions that the diocese was entirely altered in appearance. Our   
   Saint’s new dignity did not make him abate anything of his   
   austerities, and, though at that time he was advanced in age, he   
   thought himself obliged to redouble his penitential labors. Despite   
   the vast extent of his diocese, it seemed insufficient for his zeal,   
   which could not be confined. Wherever he saw the opportunity of   
   advancing the honor of God and abolishing the remains of idolatry, he   
   overcame all obstacles, and by his zealous labors and miracles the   
   rays of the Gospel dispelled the mists of idolatry everywhere.   
      
   After St. Medard had completed his great work in Flanders, he returned   
   to Noyon, where shortly afterwards he fell ill. Before he died, King   
   Clotaire, son of Clovis, whom he had brought to penance, prevailed   
   upon him to accept being buried in a magnificent basilica, which he   
   intended to build to serve as his sepulcher. In 545 the entire kingdom   
   lamented his death, as his brother St. Gildard was mourned in the same   
   year in the region of Rouen. In the two bishops the faithful had lost   
   their common fathers and protectors.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Had you but tasted one drop of the sweetness which inebriates the   
   souls of those religious from their worship of this Sacrament, you   
   would never have written as you have, nor have apostatized from the   
   faith that you formerly professed.   
   -- Saint John Fisher   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   The children of this world are more prudent among themselves than the   
   children of the light.  (Luke 16:8)   
      
      
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   There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak   
      
   The tongue should be prudently restrained, but not completely tied up.   
   It is written: Whoever is wise will keep silence until the right   
   moment. In other words, when it is seen that speech would be opportune   
   the censorship of silence is relaxed, and an effort made to speak some   
   appropriate word. Elsewhere it is written: There is a time to keep   
   silence and a time to speak. Different circumstances should be   
   prudently judged; the tongue should not be unprofitably loosened in   
   speech when it ought to be restrained; nor should it indolently   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)