From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   We should have but one goal   
      
   “Our Lord’s words teach us that though we labour   
   among the many distractions of this world,   
   we should have but one goal. For we are but travelers   
   on a journey without as yet a fixed abode;   
   we are on our way, not yet in our native land;   
   we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment.   
   But let us continue on our way   
   and continue without sloth or respite,   
   so that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.”   
   --St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor   
   (Sermo 103, 1-2, 6: PL 38, 613, 615)   
      
   =============   
   July 29th - Saint Olaf of Norway   
      
   Memorial   
   29 July   
   16 October (conversion of Saint Olaf)   
   3 August (translation of relics)   
      
   (955-1030)   
      
   Let us all rejoice in the Lord on the feast of blessed Olaf, Norway’s   
   eternal king. The angels exult over his martyrdom and praise the Son   
   of God.   
      
   Saint Olaf of Norway was martyr, “eternal king” and patron saint of   
   Norway. Through his efforts, faith, and miracles, Norway was brought   
   to the faith. Unhappy with his efforts, Olaf was slain in a revolt by   
   his people, earning him the martyrs’ crown in 1030.   
      
   Born Olaf Haraldsson, royalty was in the blood of the future saint.   
   His father was King Harold Grenske of Norway, and Olaf was to follow   
   in his footsteps. Referred to as “Olaf the Fat,” he spent his youth as   
   a Norse raider until approximately age 15 when he was baptized at   
   Rouen. At 18, Olaf traveled to England and offered his services to the   
   king, fighting against the invading Danes. Following his father’s   
   death, and his ascension to the throne, Olaf traveled home to Norway,   
   and fought tirelessly to free his lands and people from the Danes and   
   Swedes. Succeeding, he immediately requested that Christian   
   missionaries from England be sent to Norway, and the faith began   
   spreading across the land.   
      
   King Olaf ruled with certainty, reigning over Norway for 13 peaceful   
   years. He tried to convert his people, using force if necessary as was   
   common at the time. To Olaf, the fight for souls against Satan   
   required force. But many of the noble class found his policies harsh   
   and his were slow to accept the faith. In 1029, they rebelled against   
   him, and siding with King Canute of Denmark, overthrew Olaf. He was   
   exiled to Russia, where he held to his faith, and returned to Norway   
   in 1030, only to be slain in battle.   
      
   Buried at the Cathedral of Trondheim, numerous miracles began being   
   reported at his tombside, and he became especially revered and   
   venerated there. His final resting place became a place of pilgrimage,   
   and the people of Norway came to recognize him as the champion of   
   Norwegian independence. He was canonized the patron saint of Norway in   
   1164. What the sword couldn’t do even in “good faith, ”the Spirit did.   
   Norway became predominantly Catholic.   
      
   Most memorable among his accomplishments as King was the development   
   of what came to be known as Saint Olaf’s Law. Ahead of its time,   
   Olaf’s Law prescribed prayer to Christ for peace, required newborn   
   babies to be allowed to live and not abandoned in fields or forests,   
   slaves were to be ransomed each year, polygamy was forbidden, and   
   severe penalties were exacted for rape and the kidnapping of women.   
   Olaf himself traveled the length of Norway promoting his new Christian   
   Law, and he insisted that it be applied equally upon both rich and   
   poor.   
   by Jacob   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   “Jesus Christ is very little known by those   
   who claim to be His friends.   
   We observe them seeking in Him,   
   not His sorrows but their own consolation.”   
   --St John of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "Fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness, let it not so much   
   as be named among you, as becometh saints or obscenity or foolish   
   talking or scurrility, which is to no purpose; but rather giving of   
   thanks. For know you this and understand: that no fornicator or   
   unclean or covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath   
   inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God"  (Eph. 5:3-5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Insatiably thou wilt be satiated with truth.   
      
   Truly, the depth of our will is such that only God, seen face to face,   
   can fill that depth and draw the soul irresistibly. The depth which   
   the soul has by its very nature is augmented by infused hope and   
   charity, which widen, as it were, our heart, increase its capacity to   
   love, and arouse in us aspirations higher than all natural   
   aspirations, even the most intimate and elevated. St. Augustine speaks   
   thus: "God is the goal of our desires, He is the one whom we shall see   
   without end, whom we shall love without weariness, whom we shall   
   glorify forever without fatigue." [De civ. --St. Augustine--Dei, Bk.   
   II, chap. 30, no. 1 553]   
      
    This is one of the most beautiful definitions of heaven and beatitude   
   that was ever pronounced. We know none that is more perfect. Cf. Sermo   
   362, 29: "Insatiably thou wilt be satiated with truth."   
      
   [T]his truth it is which made St. Augustine say:   
   "Unhappy he who knows all things without knowing Thee, my God:   
   blessed he who knows Thee, even though he be ignorant of all else.   
   If he knows Thee and knows also other things, he is happy,   
   not by knowing them, but by knowing Thee, provided that, knowing Thee,   
   he also glorifies Thee by thanking Thee for Thy gifts." [Confessions,   
   Bk. V, chap. 4.551]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)