From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Trust in God in all Trouble [III]   
      
   O righteous Father, ever to be praised, now is the hour of Thy   
   servant's trial. Father, worthy of all love, it is right that I should   
   now suffer something for Thy sake. 0 Father, ever to be honoured, the   
   hour has come (John 16:32) which has lain in Thy foreknowledge from   
   all eternity, when for a while Thy servant will seem utterly defeated;   
   yet let him inwardly feel Thy presence. He will be maligned and   
   humiliated, a failure in the eyes of men, broken by suffering and   
   sickness, that with Thee he may rise again in the light of a new dawn,   
   and receive glory in Heaven. This, most holy Father, is by Your   
   appointment, and all is done as Thou hast ordained.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 50   
      
   ===============   
   October 24th – St. Proclus of Constantinople   
   d. 446   
      
     St. Proclus was a native of Constantinople, and was very young when   
   he was made a lector.  He was a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, but   
   nevertheless became secretary to St. John’s opponent, Atticus,   
   archbishop of Constantinople, who ordained him deacon and priest.   
   Alter his death many cast their eyes upon Proclus as the fittest   
   person to be placed in that important see; but Sisinnius was chosen   
   and he appointed Proclus bishop of Cyzicus.  Inhabitants of that city   
   refused to receive him and chose someone else. Proclus therefore   
   continued at Constantinople, where he got a great reputation by his   
   preaching. Upon death of Sisinnius many again cast their eyes upon him   
   as the most worthy of that dignity; but Nestorius was chosen, who soon   
   began to propagate his errors. St. Proclus courageously maintained the   
   truth against him, and in 429 preached a sermon to show that the   
   Blessed Virgin ought to be styled the Mother of God. In the course of   
   it he made use of the memorable phrase, “We do not proclaim a deified   
   man, but we confess an incarnate God”. When Nestorius was deposed   
   Maximian was chosen to succeed him, but after his death in 434, as   
   Proclus had never been able in fact to take possession of the see of   
   Cyzicus, he was elected to that of Constantinople.   
      
   The mildness and tact with which he treated even the most obstinate   
   among Nestorians and other heretics was a distinguishing part of his   
   character. The Armenian bishops consulted him about the doctrine and   
   writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, who was then dead, and whose name   
   was in reputation in those parts. St. Proclus answered by his Tome to   
   the Armenians, the most famous of his writings. In it he condemned the   
   doctrine mentioned as savoring of Nestorianism, and expounded the   
   faith of the Incarnation; without, however, naming Theodore, whose   
   memory was revered by many and who had died in the communion of the   
   Church. He exhorted them to adhere to the doctrine of St. Basil and   
   St. Gregory Nazianzen, whose names and works were in particular   
   veneration among them. Others carried on this contest with greater   
   warmth. In concert with the Empress St. Pulcheria, he translated the   
   body of his old master St. John Chrysostom from Comana Pontica to the   
   church of the Apostles at Constantinople. The whole city went out to   
   meet the procession, and the remaining intransigent followers of St.   
   John submitted themselves to his gentle and conciliatory successor.   
      
     During the episcopate of St. Proclus, a disastrous earthquake   
   visited Constantinople. Amid the ruins men ran to and fro distracted   
   with fear, not being able to find any place of security. Inhabitants   
   wandered in the fields, and Proclus with his clergy followed his   
   scattered flock, and ceased not to comfort them amidst their   
   afflictions and to implore the divine mercy. The Greek Menology of   
   Basil, on the authority of a chronicler who wrote 350 years after the   
   alleged event, refers to a legend that, as they thus prayed, crying   
   out Kyrie eleison, a child was caught up out of sight into the air.   
   When he came back to earth, the boy said he had heard the angelic   
   choirs singing the words, “Holy God, holy Strong One, holy Deathless   
   One”; and straightway he died. The people repeated the words, adding,   
   “Have mercy upon us”, and the earthquake ceased. In consequence St.   
   Proclus introduced this invocation, the Trisagion, into the liturgy.   
   It is not known that he did this, but the first certain mention of the   
   Trisagion is at the Council of Chalcedon, only a few years later, and   
   it is possible that St. Proclus and his people prayed in these famous   
   words at the time of the earthquake.   
      
     Proclus is referred to by St. Cyril of Alexandria as “a man full of   
   religion, perfectly instructed in the discipline of the Church, and a   
   careful observer of the canons”. “In moral excellence”, says the Greek   
   historian Socrates, who knew him personally, “he had few equals. He   
   was always gentle to everyone, for he was convinced that kindness   
   advances the cause of truth better than severity. He therefore   
   determined not to irritate and harass heretics, and so restored to the   
   Church in his own person that mild and benignant dignity of character,   
   which had so often been unhappily violated. He was a pattern of all   
   true prelates.”   
      
   A number of the letters and sermons of St. Proclus are extant.... A   
   sufficiently full account of St. Proclus, compiled from the church   
   historians and other sources, is provided in the Acta Sanctorum,   
   October, vol. x....   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He   
   does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves   
   entirely to Him.   
   --St. Teresa of Avila   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only   
   as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own   
   salvation with fear and trembling;  (Phil. 2:12)  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Memorare to Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph   
      
      Remember, O Merciful Jesus, Immaculate Mary and glorious St.   
   Joseph that no one has ever had recourse to Thy Protection, or   
   implored Thy assistance without obtaining relief. Animated with a like   
   confidence, but weighted down by my sins, I prostrate myself before   
   Thee. O! Reject not my petitions, but graciously hear and grant them.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)