From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Pray with the angels   
      
   "When you pray, it is as if you were entering into a palace--not a   
   palace on earth, but far more awesome, a palace in heaven. When you   
   enter there, you do so with complete attentiveness and fitting   
   respect. For in the houses of kings all turmoil is set aside, and   
   silence reigns. Yet here you are being joined by choirs of angels. You   
   are in communion with archangels and singing with the seraphim, who   
   sing with great awe their spiritual hymns and sacred songs to God, the   
   Lord of all. So when you are praying, mingle with these voices,   
   patterning yourself according to their mystical order. It is not to   
   human beings that you are praying but to God, who is present   
   everywhere, who hears even before you speak and who knows already the   
   secrets of the heart. If you pray to this One, you shall receive a   
   great reward. 'For your Father who sees in secret shall reward you   
   openly.' He did not merely say he would give it to you but reward you,   
   as if he himself had made a pledge to you and so honored you with a   
   great honor. Because God himself is hidden, your prayer should be   
   hidden."   
   --by John Chrysostom (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF Mt., HOMILY 19.3)   
      
   ===============   
   November 16th - St. Margaret of Scotland   
   (Also known as Margaret of Wessex)   
      
   Memorial 16 November   
   formerly 10 June   
   16 June in Scotland   
      
   (d. 1093)   
      
   At the end of Shakespeare’s great tragedy Macbeth, the heroic warrior   
   MacDuff, bearing in hand the head of the usurping King Macbeth, cries   
   out to Malcolm III, the new and rightful ruler, “Hail, King of   
   Scotland!” When we speak about St. Margaret, patron saint of the   
   Scots, we should think of her against this stormy background. She was   
   the second queen of Malcolm, and she was an important influence in   
   helping him to make his country a better and more Christian land.   
      
   Margaret was of the royal blood of England’s Saxon kings. Taking   
   refuge in Scotland after the Norman William the Conqueror invaded   
   Britain, she met and attracted Malcolm III. Up to then, she had been   
   contemplating entering the convent, but in 1070 she felt that duty   
   required her to accept the hand of the Scottish monarch.   
      
   Malcolm was no gentleman, but rough and uncultured. He had a good   
   sense of values, however, and he was open to the counsel of his new   
   wife.   
      
   She saw that the nation needed to be lifted out of its ignorance,   
   crudity and immorality. With her husband’s backing, she saw to it that   
   church synods were held to enforce such church laws as Sunday Mass   
   attendance, non-marriage with relatives, clerical celibacy, simony and   
   usury. With the king she established several churches, most notably   
   the Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline.   
      
   A good wife, she bore Malcolm six sons and two daughters who reflected   
   credit on their parents. Matilda, who married King Henry I of England,   
   became known as “Good Queen Maud.” Three of Margaret’s sons, Edgar,   
   Alexander and David, succeeded their father on the Scots throne. David   
   is venerated as St. David of Scotland.   
      
   Queen Margaret’s chief influence for good was her own example. She was   
   prayerful and lived austerely. The poor she dearly loved. Whenever she   
   left the palace, the local beggars crowded about her, and she helped   
   them all. She never sat down at table without first having fed 9   
   orphans and 24 adults. During penitential seasons, she and the king   
   would entertain 300 poor persons, serving them personally on their   
   knees.   
      
   Margaret likewise set for the women of the court a pattern of good   
   behavior. She early founded an embroidery guild to make vestments and   
   cushions for church kneelers. When she sat stitching among the guild   
   members, none of them dared to speak in an unseemly manner. Yet she   
   maintained spiritual good cheer. As Bishop Turgot, her biographer, was   
   to write, “Every word that she uttered, every act that she performed   
   showed that she was meditating on the things of heaven.’   
      
   St. Margaret’s life was not without its tragedies. In 1093 King   
   William II Rufus of England attacked King Malcolm. Malcolm was slain   
   through treachery as was his son, Edmund. Margaret herself was then on   
   her deathbed. On learning this sad news, she prayed, “I thank Thee,   
   Almighty God, that in sending me so great an affliction in the last   
   hour of my life Thou wouldst purify me from my sins, as I hope, by Thy   
   mercy.” Having survived Malcolm by only a few days, she was canonized   
   a saint in 1250.   
      
   The memory of this woman, every inch a queen, remains green among the   
   Scots. Within the grim walls of Edinburgh Castle there still stands   
   the lovely 12th century chapel of St. Margaret. Princess Margaret, the   
   Sister of Queen Elizabeth II, is its royal protector. This guild is   
   still given to supplying church linens and doing other church   
   stitchery.   
      
   Every wife and mother can see in St. Margaret’s life what influence   
   for good a devout and responsible woman can have on her husband, her   
   children, and her contemporaries. Such a woman becomes a queen indeed   
   in her own castle.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The more a person loves God, the more reason he has to hope in Him.   
   This hope produces in the Saints an unutterable peace, which they   
   preserve even in adversity, because as they love God, and know how   
   beautiful He is to those who love Him, they place all their confidence   
   and find all their repose in Him alone.   
   --Saint Alphonsus Liguori   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    He hath put down the mighty from their throne,   
   and hath exalted the humble.  (Luke 1:52)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Meditation:   
       Why did Jesus, the Sinless One, submit himself to John's baptism?   
   John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Lk   
   3:3)--of which Jesus had no need. However, in this humble submission   
   we see a foreshadowing of the "baptism" of his bloody death upon the   
   cross. Jesus' baptism is the acceptance and the beginning of his   
   mission as God's suffering Servant (Isaiah 53). He allowed himself to   
   be numbered among sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his   
   Father's will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death for   
   the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust and submission   
   to God?   
       "Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and inflame my heart   
   with the joy of the Gospel. May I find joy in seeking to please you   
   just as you found joy in seeking to please your Father."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)