From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Never Tire of Trying   
      
      "Be assured that you can never be perfect in this world unless you   
   realize that it is impossible for you to be perfect here. Therefore,   
   your aim in life should be as follows.   
      Always try your best in doing what you have to do, so that you may   
   reach perfection. Never get tired of trying, because there is always   
   room for improvement."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 33, 14   
      
   Prayer: How do I seek you, O Lord? For when I seek you, it is   
   happiness I seek. Let me seek you that my soul may live; as my body   
   lives by my soul, so my soul lives by you.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 10, 2   
      
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   September 26th - St. Nilus the Younger, Abbot   
      
   THIS saint was of Grecian extraction, and born at Rossana in Calabria,   
   in 910. From his infancy he was fervent in religious duties, and in   
   the practice of all virtues, and made considerable progress both in   
   profane and sacred learning. He engaged in wedlock with a view to the   
   sanctification of his soul by the faithful discharge of the duties of   
   that holy state, and was careful in it to nourish and improve the   
   sentiments of virtue in his heart by frequent hours of holy   
   retirement. These he devoted to religious meditation, reading, and   
   prayer, lest the seeds of piety should be choked amidst the cares and   
   business of the world. Though his attention to his obligations as a   
   Christian held the first place with him, this was so far from   
   encroaching on his duties to others, that it made him more diligent in   
   them. But then he was careful to shun idle conversation, and the vain   
   pleasures and diversions of the world, which are apt to blot out those   
   serious thoughts which are impressed upon our minds in the time of   
   holy retirement.   
      
   After the death of his wife, his love of solitude moved him to take   
   sanctuary in his beloved harbour of a monastery, from the   
   embarrassments of a public life, and the glittering temptations of the   
   world. He therefore retired about the year 940, into a convent   
   belonging to the church of St. John Baptist at Rossana, where his mind   
   was entirely employed in conversing with God. The reputation of his   
   extraordinary sanctity was soon spread over the whole country, and   
   many repaired to him for spiritual advice. In 976 the archbishop   
   Theophylactus, metropolitan of Calabria, with the lord of that   
   territory, named Leo, many priests and others went to see him, rather   
   desiring to try his erudition and skill, than to hear from his mouth   
   any lessons for their edification. The abbot knew their intention, but   
   having saluted them courteously, and made a short prayer with them, he   
   put into the hands of Leo a book in which were contained certain   
   maxims concerning the small number of the Elect, which seemed to the   
   company too severe. But the saint undertook to prove them to be   
   clearly founded in the principles laid down, not only by St. Basil,   
   St. Chrysostom, St. Ephrem, St. Theodore the Studite, and other   
   fathers, but even by St. Paul, and the gospel itself; adding, in the   
   close of his discourse: “These maxims seem dreadful, but they only   
   condemn the irregularity of your deportment. Unless your lives be   
   altogether holy, you will not escape everlasting torments.” These   
   words struck terror into all who heard the saint speak, which they   
   expressed by deep sighs and groans. One of the company then asked the   
   abbot, whether Solomon was damned or saved? To which he replied: “What   
   does it concern us to know whether he be saved or no? But it behoves   
   you to reflect, that Christ denounces damnation against all persons   
   who commit impurity.” This he said, knowing the person who put that   
   question to be addicted to that vice. The saint added: “I would desire   
   rather to know whether you will be damned or saved. As for Solomon,   
   the holy scripture makes no mention of his repentance, as it does of   
   that of Manasses.”   
      
     Euphraxus, a vain and haughty nobleman, was sent governor of   
   Calabria from the imperial court at Constantinople. St. Nilus made him   
   no presents upon his arrival, as other abbots did; on which account   
   the governor sought every occasion of mortifying the servant of God.   
   But shortly after falling sick, he sent for the saint, and falling on   
   his knees, begged his pardon and prayers, and desired to receive the   
   monastic habit from his hands. St. Nilus refused a long time to give   
   it him, saying: “Your baptismal vows are sufficient for you. Penance   
   requires no new vows, but a sincere change of heart and life.”   
   Euphraxus was not to be satisfied, and continued so urgent, that the   
   saint at length gave him the habit. The governor made all his slaves   
   free, distributed his personal estate among the poor, and died three   
   days after in great sentiments of compunction.   
      
     St. Nilus refused the bishopric of Capua, and rejected pressing   
   invitations to go to Constantinople; but the Saracens conquering   
   Calabria, Aligern, abbot of Mount Cassino, bestowed on him the abbey   
   of Bright-Valley, where St. Nilus took refuge with his community. He   
   spent there 15 years; then 10 in the monastery of Serperi.   
      
     The emperor Otho III. coming to Rome to expel Philagatus, bishop of   
   Placentia, whom the senator Crescentius had set up antipope against   
   Gregory V., St. Nilus went to intercede with the pope and emperor,   
   that the antipope might be treated with mildness, as he was a bishop,   
   and was received with great honour. Otho making a pilgrimage to Mount   
   Gargano, paid a visit to St. Nilus, but was surprised to see his   
   monastery consisting of poor scattered huts, and said: “These men are   
   truly citizens of heaven, who live in tents as strangers on earth.”   
   St. Nilus conducted the emperor first to the oratory, and after   
   praying there some time, entertained him in his cell Otho pressed the   
   saint to accept some spot of ground, in whatever part of his dominions   
   he should choose it, promising to endow it with competent revenues.   
   St. Nilus thanked his majesty: but returned him this answer: “If my   
   brethren are truly monks, our divine Master will not forsake them when   
   I am gone.” In taking leave, the emperor said to him: “Ask what you   
   please, as if you were my son: I will give it you with joy and   
   pleasure.” The abbot laying his hand upon the emperor’s breast, said:   
   “The only thing I ask of you is, that you would save your soul. Though   
   emperor, you must die, and give an account to God, like other men.”   
   Our saint was remarkable for an eminent spirit of prophecy, of which   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)