From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Let Us Ceaselessly Watch   
      
   We ourselves, however, have the means to avoid being deceived as long   
   as we are prepared to stay even slightly alert and on the watch, not   
   because we have such power of ourselves but because it is then we are   
   granted grace from on high as well. You see, whenever we give evidence   
   of what resources lie within us, what the Lord has to offer follows on   
   all sides. Let us therefore be on the alert, I beseech you, and, aware   
   of the evil one's wiles, let us ceaselessly watch and implore God to   
   join us in our combat against him.   
   –-St. John Chrysostom.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   February 23rd – St. Willigis of Mainz, Bishop   
   (Also known as Villigiso)   
   Memorial   
   23 February   
   formerly 18 April   
      
   Born at Schöningen, Brunswick; died at Mainz, Germany, in 1011. Saint   
   Willigis was a man of humble origin, son of a wheelwright, who by 975   
   was imperial chancellor to Otto II, and archbishop of Mainz. As a   
   canon of Hildesheim (near Hanover), Willigis attracted the attention   
   of Otto II through Otto's precentor Wolkold, who became archbishop of   
   Meissen in 969. Willigis also served Otto III as chaplain and   
   chancellor, and left his mark as a capable and conscientious   
   ecclesiastical statesman. Through his efforts Christianity increased   
   in Schleswig-Holstein and southern Scandinavia; he consecrated a   
   succession of excellent bishops, provided for the building of several   
   great churches and other public works, and established or restored   
   collegiate churches in Mainz and Halberstadt. His personal life   
   included daily study of the Scriptures and the organized relief of the   
   poor. Willigis was a notable patron of the arts; his motto was "by art   
   to the knowledge and service of God."   
      
   On the death of Otto, Willigis became one of the most important and   
   influential people in the empire. Confirmed by Benedict VII in the   
   right to coronate emperors, Willigis crowned Otto III and later   
   influenced him in favor of abandoning Italy and concentrating his   
   resources north of the Alps. Otto III died young in 1002. The   
   succession was disputed but ended with Willigis crowning Saint Henry   
   II and his wife Saint Cunegund at Paderborn. He then served his third   
   monarch faithfully.   
      
   Unhappily Willigis had a long disagreement with Saint Bernward of   
   Hildesheim about jurisdiction over the convent of Gandersheim, a   
   quarrel apparently provoked by one of the nuns, a sister of Otto III.   
   At long last Willigis admitted he was in the wrong and gracefully   
   withdrew his claims. This seems to have been the only blot on a   
   vigorous and beneficent episcopate.   
      
   After he died of old age, Willigis's body was buried in St. Stephen's   
   Church in Mainz. His cultus arose immediately and spontaneously. It is   
   claimed that some of his Mass vestments have survived (Attwater,   
   Benedictines, Farmer).   
      
   Saint Willigis is represented in art as a bishop with a wheel, which   
   he chose as his insignia to symbolize his father's trade (Roeder). He   
   is the patron of carters and wheelwrights, who is venerated at   
   Hildesheim and Schoeningen (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let us relieve the poverty of those that beg of us and let us not be   
   over-exact about it.   
   --Saint John Chrysostom   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and   
   it shall be opened to you.  [Matt. 7:7] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Reflection and Prayer from the Imitation of Christ   
      
   "Watch and pray" is the simple means which Jesus Christ prescribes to   
   enable a Christian to resist temptation, to avoid sin, and secure his   
   salvation. To speak little to creatures and much to God, to renounce   
   useless and curious conversations, to speak only what is good or   
   necessary, is an excellent method of becoming an interior man, of   
   preserving purity of heart and peace of conscience, and of becoming   
   entirely united to God. A soul which gives itself through the senses   
   to creatures, and lives not an interior life, but amuses itself with   
   trifles, is not at all in a state to relish the things of God, or to   
   apply to prayer or recollection, which are so useful and so necessary   
   for salvation. Why, says St. Austin, dost thou, O dissipated and   
   wandering soul, seek content in created objects, in the goods and   
   pleasures of life? Seek within thyself, by recollection, the only true   
   and sovereign Good, who is there, and who alone can satisfy thy   
   desires.   
      
   Prayer: Give me, O God, that spirit of interior recollection which   
   will make me attentive to Thy holy will and faithful to Thy graces.   
   Grant that the remembrance of Thine awful presence may remind me   
   continually of Thy blessed life and conversation, and effectually   
   control me during my earthly pilgrimage. I am weary, O God, of living   
   an exile from Thy presence, and of being so little affected by the   
   consideration of Thy majesty as to do nothing to please Thee. What can   
   I find in Heaven or on earth that is comparable to Thee? Thou art the   
   God of my heart: grant I may be ever sensible of Thy presence, and   
   desire only the happiness of pleasing Thee, in time, that Thou mayest   
   be my portion for eternity. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)