From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Closed hearts - prejudiced minds   
      
   The prophet Isaiah had warned that some would hear God's word, but not   
   believe, some would see God's actions and miracles, and remain   
   unconvinced. Ironically some of the greatest skeptics of Jesus'   
   teaching and miracles were the learned scribes and Pharisees who   
   prided themselves on their knowledge of Scripture, especially on the   
   law of Moses. They heard Jesus' parables and saw the great signs and   
   miracles which he performed, but they refused to accept both Jesus and   
   his message. How could they "hear and never understand" and "see but   
   never perceive"? They were spiritually blind and deaf because their   
   hearts were closed and their minds were blocked by pride and   
   prejudice. How could a man from Galilee, the supposed son of a   
   carpenter, know more about God and his word, than these experts who   
   devoted their lives to the study and teaching of the law of Moses?   
   Scripture:  Matthew 13:10-17   
      
   =============   
   August 6th – Saint Gislain of Luxemburg   
   (Also known as Schetzel, Scocelin, Jocelin, Schetzelon, Ghislain)   
      
   Memorial   
   6 August   
   11 August (Luxembourg)   
      
   Died 1141. Very little is known with certainty about Gislain, a   
   well-known saint in Luxembourg. He was raised in a pious household and   
   believed that he could grow in holiness only by withdrawing from the   
   world. He began his 15-year life as a hermit in Grünewald Forest near   
   Trier, Germany, where the locals can still identify the grotto near a   
   fountain named after him.   
      
   Escaping distractions is not always easy, even for a hermit. One day   
   snow fell overnight covering Gislain entirely—except for his face. A   
   freezing hare found that warm spot and settled comfortably on the   
   hermit's face. Gislain later reproached himself for allowing this   
   incident to distract him from his prayers.   
      
   He foraged for food when it was available and begged for it at the   
   local farmhouses during winter. The farmers came to know him and left   
   pieces of stale bread for the hermit, knowing that he would have   
   refused anything that was fresh. Out of respect for the life he had   
   chosen, they never tried to speak to him, nor to see him. It is said   
   that he would approach houses at night because he had no clothes   
   except a monk's cincture. Saint Bernard once brought him a tunic and   
   pair of shoes, which Gislain tried on to please the monk, but he soon   
   discarded them saying that he did not need them.   
      
   When he died, a chapel was built in his honor which drew pilgrims. The   
   water at his spring was blessed each year. In 1150, his body was   
   translated to Munster Abbey to make the pilgrimage more convenient.   
   The abbey was destroyed by Charles V in 1544, and it is believed   
   Gislain's relics were moved to the church of Our Lady at the castle of   
   Luxembourg. Gislain is sometimes confused with another called Gezelin   
   (Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   But I know it will be said that a priest ordained by authority derived   
   from the See of Rome is, by the Law of the Nation, to die as a   
   Traitor, but if that be so what must become of all the Clergymen of   
   the Church of England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their   
   Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or not at all, as appears   
   by their own writers so that Ordination comes derivatively from those   
   now living.   
   -- Saint John Plessington, from the gallows as he was about to be martyred   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord   
   thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.  (Matthew   
   4:10)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Act of Love before Holy Mass   
      
   O my God,   
   I love You with all my heart,   
   with all my soul, with all my strength   
   and with no other desire   
   than to be inseparably united to You.   
   It is through Your Divine Son   
   that this union is about to be realised within me.   
   In the eternal food I will receive,   
   I long to identify myself with Him,   
   that it will no longer be myself but He,   
   who lives in me   
   and when I have received Jesus within myself,   
   then I shall love and be loved by You,   
   in that same measure,   
   in which I am united to Him.   
   Hasten then, to give me Your Divine Son,   
   at the hands of Your priest,   
   that through Jesus,   
   I may unite myself forever to You,   
   O God the Father,   
   in the unity of the Holy Spirit.   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)