From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How Burdens must be Borne to win Eternal Life  [II]   
      
   Labor with all your might. Work faithfully in My vineyard;(Matt. 20:7) I   
   myself will be your reward. (Gen. 15:1) Write, study, worship, be penitent,   
   keep silence and pray. Meet all your troubles like a man: eternal life is   
   worth all this and yet greater    
   conflicts. Peace will come at a time known only to the Lord. It will not be   
   day or night as we know it, (Rev. 22:5) but everlasting light, boundless   
   glory, abiding peace and sure rest. You will not say then, 'Who will free me   
   from this mortal body?; (Rom    
   7:4) nor cry, 'Alas, how long is my exile!' (Ps. 120:5) for the power of death   
   will be utterly broken, (Isa. 25:8) and full salvation assured. No anxiety   
   will remain, but only blessed joy in the fair and lovely fellowship of the   
   Saints.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 47   
      
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   April 15th - Saint Ruadhán of Lothra   
      
   Saint Ruadhán of Lothra, was one of the Twelve Apostles of    
   Ireland. Ruadhán is a saint about whom many stories are   
   recorded, hagiography credits him with the cursing of the pagan   
   stronghold of Tara and with many miracles. There is a scholarly paper   
   on 'The Life of Saint Ruadán and the Cursing of Tara' which examines   
   these traditions here.  Canon O'Hanlon has a long and densely-packed   
   account of the saint and his miracles, but for the moment I will   
   introduce him through a more concise entry, taken from a scholar of   
   Irish folklore:   
      
   Ruadhán Saint who died c. 584 AD, founder of the monastery of Lothra   
   (Lorrha, in north Co Tipperary). His name means ‘red-haired man’ and   
   in modern form is rendered Ruán.   
      
   The several accounts given of him in Latin and Irish all derived from   
   a lost biography, which was compiled in the 10th or 11th century. We   
   read that he was son of one Fearghus Bearn on the royal Eoghanacht   
   sept of Munster, and that he was educated by St. Finnian of Cluain Ard   
   (Clonard, Co Meath). When he went to Lorrha to found his monastery   
   there, a fierce wild boar which had its lair in the hollow of a tree   
   quitted the place so that he could have possession of it. He performed   
   many miracles in different parts of Ireland, including finding their   
   treasure for the people of Ros Éinne (in the Oriors area of south   
   Armagh) who had forgotten where they had hidden it during a   
   pestilence; healing the queen of Cualu (north Wicklow) who was   
   afflicted by a dangerous blood-clot; and rescuing a ship caught in a   
   whirlpool near Limerick. He had a wondrous tree at Lorrha, the sap of   
   which provided full sustenance for all who tasted of it. The other   
   saints of Ireland grew jealous of Ruadhán on account of this tree and   
   of his holiness generally, but he reconciled them to him by   
   entertaining them with a fine feast in Lorrha.   
      
   The most celebrated story of him concerned his conflict with the   
   high-king Diarmaid mac Cearrbheoil, who seized a hostage from out of   
   Ruadhán’s sanctuary and was elaborately cursed by the saint as a   
   result. The two were eventually reconciled, and Diarmaid returned the   
   hostage to Ruadhán in return for 30 beautiful dark-grey horses. These   
   had come to the saint from a river, and they defeated the king’s own   
   horses at racing. Soon after the king had acquired them, however, they   
   raced away into the sea. Another legend has Ruadhán giving his own two   
   chariot-horses as alms to lepers, and two stags coming from a wood to   
   draw his chariot in their place. Several of the other miracles   
   attributed to him involve healing the sick and raising from the dead   
   people who were recently deceased.   
      
   See Dáithí Ó hÓgain, “Myth, Legend and Romance:” An Encyclopaedia of   
   the Irish Folk Tradition (Ryan, 1990), 377-378.   
      
      
    Saint Quote:   
   "Observe that we gain more in a single day by trials which come to us   
   from God and our neighbor, than we would in ten years by penances and   
   other exercises, which we take up of ourselves"   
   --St. Teresa   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands;   
   and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not   
   faithless, but believing. 28 Thomas answered, and said to him: My   
   Lord, and my God. 29 Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me,   
   Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and   
   have believed. (John 20:27-29)   
      
      
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   A hymn/poem to Our Lord   
      
   O Jesus, sweetest Love, come Thou to me;   
   Come down in all Thy beauty unto me;   
   Thou Who didst die for longing love of me;   
   And never, never more depart from me.   
      
   Free me, O beauteous God, from all but Thee;   
   Sever the chain that holds me back from Thee;   
   Call me, O tender Love, I cry to Thee;   
   Thou art my all! O bind me close to Thee.   
      
   O suffering Love, Who hast so loved me;   
   O patient Love, Who weariest not of me;   
   Alone, O Love! Thou weariest not of me!   
   Ah! weary not till I am lost in Thee;   
   Nay, weary not till I am found in Thee.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)