From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Creator of both rich and poor   
      
   "God made both the rich and the poor. So the rich and the poor are   
   born alike. You meet one another as you walk on the way together. Do   
   not oppress or defraud anyone. One may be needy and another may have   
   plenty. But the Lord is the maker of them both. Through the person who   
   has, He helps the one who needs--and through the person who does not   
   have, He tests the one who has."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Sermon 35, 7)   
      
   =============   
   March 29th - Saint Mark of Arethusa   
      
   In a startling departure from the script expected of a saint who has   
   died in martyrdom, St. Mark miraculously managed to survive an ordeal   
   of torture to transform his tormentors into compassionate human beings   
   and go on to great glory in the name of Jesus Christ. Just when he was   
   about to die a remarkable reversal of the customary ending of a   
   saintly life served to make the invincible St. Mark unique among those   
   who have suffered and died for the Messiah.   
      
   After the proclamation of Constantine the Great granting Christianity   
   toleration, the transition from paganism to Christianity was not   
   accomplished immediately. Mark of Arethusa lived in a period of   
   turmoil in the early fourth century, during which time he was of   
   inestimable value as a young priest who shouldered the responsibility   
   of bringing order out of religious chaos and conflict.   
      
   With the mandate from the emperor several priests came forward to   
   replace pagans and temples with Christians and churches, but nowhere   
   in the empire could they find a more capable promoter for the Prince   
   of Peace than the ebullient Mark. He was a young priest with great   
   promise when he emerged from his small parish near the city of   
   Arethusa (in the province of Thessalonike) to undertake the   
   spiritually rewarding, but ever hazardous, chore of physically   
   transforming pagan temples into Christian churches. He left the   
   tranquility of his parish on the banks of the river Strymon, later   
   called Rendina, to assume much more awesome and demanding duties in   
   the name of the Savior. These duties eventually brought him glory and   
   grief, but eventually brought him the highest in spiritual attainment.   
   He was well into this laudable campaign when he was appointed bishop   
   of Arethusa, an office whose influence he would bring to many other   
   areas in the course of his holy work.   
      
   Specially appointed to direct the changeover, Mark countered the   
   expected resistance in some areas with compelling oratory which won   
   enough converts to acquire a strength in numbers sufficient to offset   
   the last–ditch defenders of paganism. Then came the actual   
   transformation whereby temples became churches with the replacement of   
   the sacred cross of Jesus Christ for idols. When the architecture of a   
   temple did not allow for conformity with a church, it was simply taken   
   down piece by piece and rebuilt to Christian standards. Those edifices   
   that posed too many problems were made into hospitals or places of   
   refuge for the needy.   
      
   Mark showed not only a bold administrative capacity while these   
   proceedings were taking place, but a genuine concern for the populace   
   as a whole. Thus he acquired a reputation for generosity, compassion   
   and humility which stamped him as a rare human being and dedicated   
   servant of God and man. Even those who opposed him grudgingly admitted   
   that for all of his quiet demeanor he was not a man to be trifled   
   with, nor one who would slacken the pace of his mission.   
      
   Years of devotion to this procedure brought Mark and his Christian   
   community a hitherto unknown tranquility. But this peace was shattered   
   when the Emperor Julian the Apostate succeeded to the throne in AD 361   
   and disavowed Jesus to revert to paganism. Almost overnight the   
   advances of Christianity were stemmed. With this shabby disavowal came   
   a persecution of Christians.   
      
   Mark found himself the target of the rabble he had put to rout. These   
   people had been given heart by a perfidious ruler who was not the   
   least interested in having his people live in harmony. Instead, he   
   encouraged the pagans to vent their spleen on Christians once again.   
   Mark was dragged into the streets by a frenzied mob who tortured him   
   without mercy, again and again inflicting the cruelest of punishment   
   they could devise. Their rage subsided in the face of the durability   
   of the holy Mark who summoned renewed strength and convinced the mob   
   that the Lord had given him a seeming indestructibility. He went on   
   about conversion until he died on 28 March 389.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to   
   destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?  [James 4:12]   
   RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Pious Invocations   
      
   Eternal Father, we offer Thee the infinite merits of Our Lord   
   Jesus Christ, of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the   
   Saints, in expiation for the sins of the world and for the   
   salvation of souls.   
      
   Lord Jesus, may Thy Precious Blood purify souls, For whom   
   Thou hast died with so much love.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)