From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The cross shows us God's perfect love and forgiveness   
      
   Jesus truly identified with our plight, and he took the burden of our   
   sinful condition upon himself. He showed us the depths of God's love   
   and compassion, by sharing in our suffering and by offering his life   
   as an atoning sacrifice for our sins upon the cross. His suffering is   
   redemptive because it brings us healing and restoration and the   
   fulness of eternal life. God offers us true freedom from every form of   
   oppression, sin, and suffering. And that way is through the cross of   
   Jesus Christ. Are you ready to embrace the cross of Christ, to suffer   
   for his sake, and to lay down your life out of love for your neighbor?   
      
   ==============   
   December 20th - Saint Dominic of Silos   
   (1000-1073)   
      
   Saint Dominic of Silos was the saint whom the other Saint   
   Dominic—founder of the Dominican Order, the Order of Preachers—was   
   named after. According to Dominican tradition, Saint Dominic of Silos   
   appeared to Blessed Joan of Aza, the mother of Saint Dominic, who then   
   made a pilgrimage to his shrine while pregnant, selecting him as the   
   namesake of her soon-to-be-born son.  Due to his sanctity and model   
   life, Saint Dominic is frequently depicted enthroned, surrounded by   
   the seven virtues of the Church.   
      
   Dominic of Silos was born in Navarre, Spain, a shepherding town in the   
   Pyrenees. As a young boy and man, he served his father’s flocks as a   
   shepherd, relishing the solitude of the shepherding life, and spending   
   his days in quiet contemplation and prayer. He undertook his own   
   studies, as few teachers were present, with the exception of the Holy   
   Spirit. Eventually, drawn to the Lord, he entered the monastery of San   
   Millan de la Cogolla as a monk. Recognized for his piety and sanctity,   
   Dominic soon thereafter became the prior of the monastery. While   
   serving as prior, Saint Dominic was drawn into a disagreement with the   
   king of Navarre, who insisted that the monastery’s possessions were   
   rightfully his. Dominic disagreed, and for his trouble was exiled. He,   
   with his monks, traveled to Castille, and were appointed at the   
   monastery of Saint Sebastian at Silos. It was due to his long-term   
   service at Silos that Saint Dominic received his referential name.   
      
   Upon arrival, it became clear that the monastery at Silos was   
   neglected and in disrepair—both physically and spiritually. The   
   buildings were falling down around the brothers who labored there.   
   During the first Mass offered following Dominic’s arrival, when the   
   celebrant turned towards the people at the Offertory to chant: Dominus   
   vobiscum, he said instead: "Behold, the restorer cometh!" and the   
   choir responded: "It is the Lord who has sent him!" The prophetic   
   words were soon fulfilled as Saint Dominic immediately undertook to   
   restore the monastery to its former state, in the process reforming   
   the lives and practices of the monks who resided there. Dominic   
   preserved the Mozarbic Rite (one of the early variants of the Latin   
   Rite) at the monastery at Silos. He further preserved the Visigothic   
   script of ancient Spain, with the monastery becoming a center of   
   learning and liturgy. Saint Dominic was further recognized for his   
   charity, and became renowned in the region for miraculous cures of the   
   sick, blind, and lame.   
      
   Dominic served as prior of the monastery at Silos for many years,   
   filling his days with good works, miraculous cures, prayer, and ransom   
   of captives. After many years, this holy man was advised of his   
   imminent death by the Blessed Virgin. He recounted to his brothers the   
   next day: “I spent the night near the Queen of Angels. She has invited   
   me to come in three days where She is; therefore I am soon going to   
   the celestial banquet to which She invites me.” Soon thereafter, he   
   fell ill for three days, and subsequently peacefully perished. Those   
   present reported observing his visible soul rise to heaven.   
      
   Saint Dominic of Silos didn’t take no for an answer. As a child, when   
   there was no one to teach him, he taught himself through the grace of   
   God and the gifts of the spirit. When he was forcibly driven from the   
   monastery he had made his home, he simply found another one—and in   
   assuming leadership, transformed the crumbling spiritual structure   
   into a center of praise, learning, and glory for the Lord. All too   
   often, we give up in our lives when things get difficult, or don’t go   
   exactly as we planned. Saint Dominic of Silos never gave up. Every   
   effort, every part of his being, lived to serve and glorify the Lord.   
   While he performed many miracles of healing, this focused attitude of   
   love and service, and transformation of not only monasteries, but   
   souls, may be the far more important miracle of his life!   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   All of us can attain to Christian virtue and holiness, no matter in   
   what condition of life we live and no matter what our life work may   
   be.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Let not thy hand be stretched out to receive, and shut when thou shouldst give.   
     [Sirach 4:36 ]  DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   From Journey of the Mind to God:   
      
   Christ is both the way and the door. Christ is the staircase and the   
   vehicle, like the "throne of mercy over the Ark of the Covenant," and   
   "the mystery hidden from the ages." A man should turn his full   
   attention to this throne of mercy, and should gaze at him hanging on   
   the cross, full of faith, hope, and charity, devoted, full of wonder   
   and joy, marked by gratitude, and open to praise and jubilation. Then   
   such a man will make with Christ a "pasch," that is, a passing-over.   
   Through the branches of the cross he will pass over the Red Sea,   
   leaving Egypt and entering the desert. There he will taste the hidden   
   manna, and rest with Christ in the sepulcher, as if he were dead to   
   things outside. He will experience, as much as is possible for one who   
   is still living, what was promised to the thief who hung beside   
   Christ: "Today you will be with me in paradise."   
   --by Saint Bonaventure   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)