From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Knowledge by itself stirs the heart with pride   
      
       Learned men and great scholars have devoted great effort and   
   prolonged study to the Holy Scriptures... employing the gifts which   
   God gives to every person who has the use of reason. This knowledge is   
   good... but it does not bring with it any spiritual experience of God,   
   for these graces are granted only to those who have a great love for   
   Him. This fountain of love issues from our Lord alone, and no stranger   
   may approach it. But knowledge of this kind is common to good and bad   
   alike, since it can be acquired without love, ... and men of a worldly   
   life are sometimes more knowledgeable than many true Christians   
   although they do not possess this love. St. Paul describes this kind   
   of knowledge: "If I had full knowledge of all things and knew all   
   secrets, but had no love, I should be nothing." Some people who   
   possess this knowledge become proud and misuse it in order to increase   
   their personal reputation, worldly rank, honours and riches, when they   
   should use it humbly to the praise of God and for the benefit of their   
   fellow Christians in true charity. St. Paul says of this kind of   
   knowledge: "Knowledge by itself stirs the heart with pride, but united   
   to love it turns to edification." By itself this knowledge is like   
   water, tasteless and cold. But if those who have it will offer it   
   humbly to our Lord and ask for His grace, He will turn the water into   
   wine with His blessing.   
   --Walter Hilton, The Scale of Perfection   
      
   ==========   
   June 10th - Bl John Dominic, OP   
   (Also known as Blessed Giovanni Dominici, John Dominici de Banchini,   
   John Dominici)   
   (1356-1419)   
      
   “My guess is that this morning when you woke up, you probably turned   
   off the alarm and thanked God for the feast of Bl. John Dominic. Wait   
   … you didn’t? You mean, you’ve never even heard of him?   
      
   John Dominic met St. Catherine of Siena, OP, when he was young,   
   entered the Order of Preachers, and was an integral part of a major   
   reform movement. This reform helped to revitalize the Order after its   
   decimation by the plague and general laxity of observance. Not only   
   was he a major force in the Dominican Order, but he became a cardinal   
   in the Church, and an official legate for the Pope. Most importantly,   
   he worked to resolve the Great Western Schism. He also brought Fra   
   Angelico, the world famous painter, and St. Antoninus, a brilliant   
   theologian and reformer, into the Order.   
      
   So if he was such a major player in the world and in the Church, then   
   it seems like we would hear more about him today. On the other hand, I   
   think our collective ignorance of an important figure like Bl. John   
   Dominic is not necessarily a tragedy, but rather is typical to all but   
   a small group of people. We are not remembered for very long after our   
   death. And even for those select few who are remembered, the details   
   that we “know” about their lives are limited.   
      
   With the fact of our transience so clearly evident, what then should   
   we make of the common cry these days for being on the right side of   
   history? How can we ensure our historical justification before men and   
   women who have not yet been born and who are likely never to hear our   
   names?   
      
   Historical scholarship can be a fickle thing. Winston Churchill was to   
   have said, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it!” Real   
   events happen in history, but our historical recording of those events   
   can be less than fully accurate. The project of historical research is   
   a human endeavor to reach into the past, and as such, it is subject to   
   the contingencies and finitude that humans must confront. We don’t   
   have access to a great deal of evidence. We can know certain   
   historical truths of black and white, but in between there is often a   
   lot of gray. Persons of the past can get lost in the proverbial   
   historical fog. What’s more, even the very choice of what persons and   
   events to research and write about can signify some sort of bias. The   
   historian must always seek to be objective and impartial, removing   
   himself from any motive of propaganda.   
      
   The desire to be on the “right side of history” can presume the myth   
   that history just keeps getting better every day. According to this   
   view, creation is on a constant upward trajectory. The reality has   
   been quite different. A simple survey of the horrors of the 20th   
   century overwhelms the soul. Technological mastery in the hands of   
   adolescent spirits has just allowed greater acts of destruction. This   
   was the greatest age of technological progress and simultaneously the   
   age of the most sinister manifestation of “man’s inhumanity to man.”   
      
   Why should we worry what future generations think of us? That seems   
   pretty insecure, to worry about what others who don’t even exist yet   
   think. It seems much better to worry about whether or not we are doing   
   the right thing. That’s not easy in our culture, because there is not   
   widespread agreement on precisely what that right thing is.   
      
   Most of us will fade into the past without much comment by future   
   generations. That shouldn’t frighten us; it should motivate us. Doing   
   the right thing for people of faith–acting according to the demands of   
   our human nature and according to the commands of God–should be the   
   primary motivation: not some imagined stamp of approval down the road,   
   but the approval of our loving Maker. For people who don’t believe in   
   God or an afterlife, it is even more critical to do what is right,   
   because it doesn’t seem like being on the right side of history   
   matters much if you’re not going to exist.   
      
   Historical hindsight can be 20/20, but too often our rearview mirror   
   gives a picture that is not so clear. Bl. John Dominic knew not to   
   worry about the vicissitudes of human chroniclers, agonizing about his   
   place in the historical annals. Instead, he acted according to his   
   well-formed conscience and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. That is   
   why he is a great saint. He was a world-famous celebrity, now mostly   
   forgotten, except by the One Who truly matters.”   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Penance to be sure must be used as a tool, in due times and places, as   
   need may be. If the flesh, being too strong, kicks against the spirit,   
   penance takes the rod of discipline, and fast, and the cilice of many   
   buds, and mighty vigils; and places burdens enough on the flesh, that   
   it may be more subdued. But if the body is weak, fallen into illness,   
   the rule of discretion does not approve of such a method.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)