From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Self-love is the root of all evils   
      
   There is no doubt that, if man could perceive the many difficulties   
   thrown by self-love in the way of his own good, he would no longer   
   allow himself to be deceived by it; and its malignity is the more to   
   be dreaded because it is so powerful that were but one grain of it in   
   the world would be sufficient to corrupt all mankind. Wherefore I   
   conclude that self-love is the root of all evils which exist in this   
   world and in the other. Behold Lucifer, whose present state is the   
   result of following the suggestions of his self-love; and in ourselves   
   it seems to me even worse. Our father Adam has so contaminated us that   
   to my eyes the evil appears almost incurable, for it so penetrates our   
   veins, our nerves, our bones, that we can neither say nor think nor do   
   anything which is not full of the poison of this love--not even those   
   thoughts and deeds which are directed toward the purification of the   
   spirit.'   
   --St. Catherine of Genoa   
      
   ==============   
   October 14th – St Dominic Loricatus   
   d.1060   
      
   THE severity with which this young man condemned himself to penance   
   for a misdeed which was not his own is a reproach to those who, after   
   offending God with full knowledge and through malice, expect   
   forgiveness without considering the conditions which true repentance   
   requires. Dominic’s parents aspired to an ecclesiastical state for   
   their son, and his father obtained his promotion to the priesthood   
   from the bishop by means of a present of a goatskin. When the young   
   priest came to the knowledge of this, he was struck with remorse and   
   could not, it is said, be induced again to approach the altar to   
   celebrate Mass or exercise any other sacerdotal office. In Umbria at   
   this time, amidst the Apennine mountains, a holy man called John of   
   Montefeltro led a most austere life as a hermit, with whom in eighteen   
   different cells lived as many disciples. Dominic repaired to this   
   superior, and begged to be admitted into the company of these   
   anchorites. He obtained his request, and by the austerity of his   
   penance gave proof how deep the spirit of sorrow was with which his   
   heart was pierced. After some years he changed his abode, about 1042,   
   retiring to the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, which St. Peter Damian   
   then governed.   
      
   The abbot, who had been long accustomed to meet with examples of   
   heroic penance, was astonished at this new recruit. Dominic wore next   
   his skin a coat of mail (from which he was surnamed Loricatus, i.e.   
   the “Mailed”), and further burdened his limbs with chains his   
   self-inflicted flagellations, moreover, were so frequent and violent   
   that he seems to have exceeded all measure. He ate as little as was   
   allowed, and then only bread and herbs, with water to drink and he   
   slept kneeling on the ground. When he had loaded himself with his   
   cuirass and chains and iron rings he would make numerous prostrations   
   or stand with arms extended cross-wise, until the weight dragging on   
   his limbs proved too much for him. And these practices he continued up   
   to his death, which occurred some years after he had been appointed   
   prior of a hermitage founded by St Peter Damian near San Severino. The   
   last night of his life St. Dominic recited Matins and Lauds with his   
   brethren, and died whilst they sang Prime, on October 14, 1060.   
      
   Little or nothing is known of this saint beyond what we learn from St   
   Peter Damian. All that is of value has been gathered up in the article   
   devoted to St. Dominic in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. vi. See   
   also A. M. Zimmermann, Kalendarium benedictinum, vol. iii (1937), pp.   
   178-181, and Annales Camaldulenses, vol. ii.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The only consideration of Superiors ought to be the love of God, and   
   the sanctification of the souls committed to their care.  This cannot   
   be better attained than by humility, combined with a peaceable   
   disposition and good example.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth   
   beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke. 20 The sun shall be   
   turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and   
   manifest day of the Lord come. 21 And it shall come to pass, that   
   whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.  (Acts   
   2:19-21   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A Year with the Saints--October: Confidence   
      
   17. So much earnestness and trouble in seeking means and helps to   
   fortify ourselves in advance against the accidents of this life, and   
   to remedy its ills, is a great failure in confidence towards God. For   
   by this going in advance of the order of His providence, we show that   
   we trust more in our own devices than in His holy guidance, and that   
   we rest more upon human prudence than upon His holy word.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   When Father Alvarez was rector of a poor college, he had a steward who   
   often came to tell him of the daily wants and what was necessary to   
   support the house. Once he asked him whether he had recommended the   
   matter to God. The steward replied that he had no time to pray.   
   "This," rejoined the good Superior, "ought to be the first thing. Go   
   into some room, and make a little prayer to the Lord. Do you think   
   this flock has no master, or such a one as has no regard for their   
   lives? Go in peace, and remember that this depends not on your   
   efforts." The steward obeyed, and often afterwards found means of   
   support which he considered miraculous.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)