From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Truth Speaks Inwardly Without the Sound of Words  (3)   
      
       They cry out words; You give understanding to the hearer. Let not   
   Moses speak to me, therefore, but You, the Lord my God, everlasting   
   truth, speak lest I die and prove barren if I am merely given outward   
   advice and am not inflamed within; lest the word heard and not kept,   
   known and not loved, believed and not obeyed, rise up in judgment   
   against me.   
       Speak, therefore, Lord, for Your servant listens. “Thou hast the   
   words of eternal life." John 6:68.  Speak to me for the comfort of my   
   soul and for the amendment of my life, for Your praise, Your glory,   
   and Your everlasting honor.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 2   
      
   ==============   
   August 25th - St. Genesius, Actor   
   (A.D. 303?)   
      
   Converted as he mocked Christian baptism on the stage? Historians   
   debate whether St. Genesius, said to have become a Christian under   
   such dramatic circumstances, was a real person or a stirring fictional   
   character. Here is the story.   
      
   Emperor Diocletian, author of the last and greatest of the Roman   
   Empire’s persecutions of Christians, came to Rome at one point (he   
   lived in Yugoslavia), and was given a festive welcome. Part of the   
   celebration was a play. Genesius, the producer and comedian, had   
   thought that the emperor, bent as he was on exterminating Christians,   
   would be pleased by a play mocking the martyrdom of a follower of   
   Christ. In preparation for the skit, Genesius learned how a person is   
   baptized into the Church.   
      
   At the start of the playlet, the actor lay down on the stage as one   
   sick. Two other actors asked what ailed him. Genesius said he felt a   
   great weight that he wanted removed. The friends concluded that he   
   wanted to take off some extra flesh. “No,” said Genesius, “I am   
   resolved to die as a Christian, that God may receive me on this day of   
   my death as one who seeks His salvation by turning from idolatry to   
   superstition.”   
      
   Hence, two other actors, dressed as a priest and exorcist, were called   
   in. They asked what the star wanted. Now, at that moment, it seems,   
   Genesius received a divine call that prompted him to say, “I desire to   
   receive the grace of Jesus Christ and to be born again, that I may be   
   delivered from my sins.” Thereupon, the two clerics went through the   
   rite of baptism, even putting on him afterwards the customary white   
   robe.   
      
   The playlet continued when two additional actors, dressed like Roman   
   soldiers, seized Genesius and led him before the emperor himself to be   
   questioned as Christians were usually questioned by persecutors.   
      
   The actor then spoke to Diocletian and all present. All his life, he   
   said candidly, he had detested and reviled Christianity, and he had   
   studied its rites for that play only for the purpose of further   
   mocking the Christian faith. But when he had been asked prior to the   
   staged baptism whether he believed, he had answered “yes” with all his   
   heart. Thereupon, he said, he saw a vision of angels bearing a book   
   with all his sins inscribed. They plunged this book into the water   
   with which he had just been baptized and showed him that all the sins   
   written there had been washed away. Therefore he urged the emperor and   
   all present to believe with him that Jesus Christ is the only true   
   Lord, and that through Him they could win forgiveness of sins.   
      
   Diocletian, furious at the unexpected twist of this comedy, ordered   
   that Genesius be beaten and tortured by the prefect of the praetorium.   
   In the midst of his pains, Genesius kept crying out that he would   
   cling to Jesus even if it meant suffering a thousand deaths: “Bitterly   
   do I regret that I once detested His holy name, and came so late to   
   His service.” Finally his head was cut off.   
      
   If the story of Genesius happens to be true it should be pointed out   
   that the “baptism” he received was not truly a sacrament. Christian   
   baptism can be administered by a non-Christian, and validly, as long   
   as he intends to do what the Church does in that ceremony. In this   
   case the mocking “baptizers” could not have intended to confer a   
   Christian sacrament. Genesius’ baptism then would have been a baptism   
   of desire and of blood, which can serve as worthy substitutes of the   
   real baptism.   
      
   The gripping tale of Genesius’ conversion and death may be a devout   
   fiction, (although a St. Genesius was venerated in Rome in the 4th   
   century). But God can bring about an instantaneous change of heart in   
   the least likely persons. Take St. Paul the Apostle. God called him to   
   His own service when he was bound for Damascus to arrest and punish   
   the Damascus Christians.   
      
   I like to think that God also changed the play-acting of Genesius that   
   day into a reality. Actors would understand that. They have long since   
   considered him their patron saint.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   In the way of virtue, there is no standing still; anyone who does not   
   daily advance, loses ground. To remain at a standstill is impossible;   
   he that gains not, loses; he that ascends not, descends. If one does   
   not ascend the ladder, one must descend; if one does not conquer, one   
   will be conquered.   
   --St. Bonaventure   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Moses said: “The Lord, the lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to   
   anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing His kindness for a   
   thousand generation, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet   
   not declaring the guilty, guiltless, but punishing children and   
   grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers’   
   wickedness!” (Ex. 34, 6-7)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Novena to the Holy Spirit   
      
   Holy Spirit you who solve all problems, who light all roads so that I   
   can attain my goal. You, who gave me the divine gift, forget all evil   
   against me & who in all instances of my life are with me. I want in this   
   short prayer to thank you for all things & to confirm once again that I   
   never want to be separated from you even in spite of all material   
   illusion. I wish to be with you in eternal glory. Thank you for your   
   mercy toward me and mine.   
      
   (Make your request)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)