From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Power of forgiveness   
      
   Jesus' treatment of sinners upset the religious teachers of the day.   
   When a cripple was brought to Jesus because of the faith of his   
   friends, Jesus did the unthinkable. He first forgave the man his sins.   
   The scribes regarded this as blasphemy because they understood that   
   only God had authority to forgive sins and to unbind a man or woman   
   from their burden of guilt. Jesus claimed an authority which only God   
   could rightfully give. Jesus not only proved that his authority came   
   from God, he showed the great power of God's redeeming love and mercy   
   by healing the cripple of his physical ailment. This man had been   
   crippled not only physically, but spiritually as well. Jesus freed him   
   from his burden of guilt and restored his body as well.   Matthew 8.5   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 21st - The Holy Prophet Daniel   
      
   Memorial   
     21 July (Roman calendar)   
     17 December (Greek calendar)   
      
   In the years following 600 B.C. Jerusalem was conquered by the   
   Babylonians, the Temple built by Solomon was destroyed, and many of   
   the Israelite people were led away into the Babylonian Captivity.   
   Among the captives were also the illustrious youths Daniel, Ananias,   
   Azarias and Misael.  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon ordered that they   
   be instructed in the Chaldean language and wisdom, and dressed them in   
   finery. Handsome children of princely lineage were often chosen to   
   serve as pages in the palace. For three years, they would be fed from   
   food from the king's table. After this they would be allowed to stand   
   before his throne.   
      
   Daniel was renamed Balthasar, Ananias was called Shadrach, Misael was   
   called Mishach, and Azarias was known as Abednego. But they, cleaving   
   to their faith, disdained the extravagance of court, refusing to   
   defile themselves by eating from the king's table and drinking his   
   wine. Instead, they lived on vegetables and water.   
      
   The Lord granted them wisdom, and to St Daniel the gift of insight and   
   interpretation of dreams. The holy Prophet Daniel preserved his faith   
   in the one God and trusted in His almighty help. He surpassed all the   
   Chaldean astrologers and sorcerers in his wisdom, and was made a   
   confidant to King Nebuchadnezzar.   
      
   Once, Nebuchadnezzar had a strange dream which terrified him (Daniel   
   2:1-6). He summoned magicians, sorcerers, and Chaldeans before him to   
   interpret the dream. When they asked him what he had dreamt, the king   
   refused to tell them. He said, "If you do not make known to me the   
   dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and   
   your houses shall be laid in ruins." The Babylonian wise men protested   
   that no magician or sorcerer could be expected to do this. Only the   
   gods could reveal the dream and its meaning, they told him.   
      
   The king ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be executed. When they   
   sought Daniel and his companions to put them to death, Daniel asked   
   that the king's sentence not be carried out. He said that he could   
   tell the king what he dreamt, for it had been revealed to him in a   
   vision. Daniel was brought before the king and was able to reveal not   
   only the content of the dream, but also its prophetic significance.   
   After this, the king elevated Daniel to be ruler of the whole province   
   of Babylon, and the chief of all the wise men.   
      
   During these times King Nebuchadnezzar ordered a huge statue to be   
   made in his likeness. It was decreed that when people heard the sound   
   of trumpets and other instruments, they should fall down and worship   
   the golden idol. Because they refused to do this, the three holy   
   youths Ananias, Azarias and Misael were cast into a fiery furnace. The   
   flames shot out over the furnace forty-nine cubits, felling the   
   Chaldeans standing about, but the holy youths walked in the midst of   
   the flames, offering prayer and psalmody to the Lord (Daniel 3:26-90).   
      
   The Angel of the Lord appeared in the furnace and cooled the flames,   
   and the young men remained unharmed. This "Angel of Great Counsel," as   
   he is called in iconography, is identified with the Son of God (Daniel   
   3:25, Isaiah 9:6). In the first Canon for the Nativity of the Lord   
   (Ode 5), the Church sings: "Thou hast sent us Thine Angel of Great   
   Counsel." The emperor, upon seeing this, commanded them to come out,   
   and was converted to the true God.   
      
   Under King Balthasar, St Daniel interpreted a mysterious inscription   
   ("Mane, Thekel, Phares"), which had appeared on the wall of the palace   
   during a banquet (Daniel 5:1-31), foretelling the downfall of the   
   Babylonian kingdom. Under the Persian emperor Darius, St Daniel was   
   slandered by his enemies, and was thrown into a den with hungry lions,   
   but they did not touch him, and he was not harmed. The emperor Darius   
   then rejoiced over Daniel and ordered people throughout his realm to   
   worship the God of Daniel, "since He is the living and eternal God,   
   and His Kingdom shall not be destroyed, and His dominion is forever"   
   (Daniel 6:26).   
      
   The holy Prophet Daniel grieved deeply for his people, who then were   
   undergoing righteous chastisement for a multitude of sins and   
   offenses, for transgressing the laws of God, resulting in the grievous   
   Babylonian Captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem: "My God,   
   incline Thine ear and hearken; open Thine eyes and look upon our   
   desolation and that of Thy city, in which Thy Name is spoken; for we   
   do not make our supplication before Thee because of our own   
   righteousness, but because of Thy great mercy" (Dan 9:18). Because of   
   Daniel's righteous life and his prayers for the people's iniquity, the   
   destiny of the nation of Israel and the fate of all the world was   
   revealed to the holy prophet.   
      
   While interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the holy,   
   glorious Prophet Daniel spoke of a great and final kingdom, the   
   Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (Dan 2:44). The prophetic vision   
   about the 70 weeks (Dan 9:24-27) speaks about the signs of the 1st and   
   the Second Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is connected with   
   those events (Daniel 12:1-12).   
      
   St Daniel interceded for his people before King Cyrus, who esteemed   
   him highly, and who decreed freedom for the Israelite people. Daniel   
   himself and his fellows Ananias, Azarias and Misael, all survived into   
   old age, but died in captivity. According to the testimony of St Cyril   
   of Alexandria (June 9), Sts Ananias, Azarias and Misael were beheaded   
   on orders of the Persian emperor Chambyses.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is important that you choose your career with care, so that you may   
   really follow the vocation that God has destined for you. No day   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)