From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    – Proverbs 11:29 –    
      
   He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the winds:   
    and the fool shall serve the wise.  [Proverbs 11:29] DRB   
   ===========================   
   One of the greatest resources God gives us is the family. Families   
   provide acceptance, encouragement, guidance, and counsel. Bringing   
   trouble on your family--whether through anger or through an   
   exaggerated desire for independence--is foolish because you cut   
   yourself off from all they provide. In your family, strive for   
   healing, communication and understanding.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   June 3rd - St. Lifard, Abbot   
      
   HIS illustrious birth, the progress he had made in the study of the   
   laws, and his extraordinary probity and piety qualified him for one of   
   the first dignities in the magistrature of Orleans. The constant   
   attendance he gave to all the duties of his charge was no hindrance   
   to his devotions, either public, in assisting at all parts of the   
   divine office, or private, in his closet; especially to his assiduity   
   and fervour in frequenting the sacraments. To be more at liberty, and   
   to disengage himself from the distractions of the world, in the   
   fortieth year of his age he resigned his charge, and initiated himself   
   in an ecclesiastical state: nor was it long before the bishop of   
   Orleans ordained him deacon. We may easily imagine with what piety and   
   devotion he acquitted himself of all the sacred duties of his state.   
   So perfectly was he penetrated with respect and awe of the majesty and   
   presence of God, and with love of his goodness, when he assisted at   
   the celebration, that he appeared like an angel about the altar. The   
   spirit of love and penance and holy contemplation daily growing   
   stronger in his heart, he resolved to withdraw himself entirely from   
   the world, and bury himself in close solitude. The place he chose for   
   this purpose was near the river Maulve, not far from the mountain and   
   castle of Mehun or Meung, situated on the Loire, a little below   
   Orleans. [1] Urbicius, his disciple, bore him company, and they built   
   themselves an hermitage of twigs and rushes.   
      
   The life which the saint here led was admirable. A little bread and   
   water was all the subsistence he allowed himself, in sickness as well   
   as in health, and his only garment was made of sackcloth. He often   
   passed whole nights in prayer, and in all his employments his mind was   
   so taken up on God as if he had lived without a body. Mark, bishop of   
   Orleans, then lived at Cleri, two leagues below the city, famous for   
   the collegiate church of the Blessed Virgin, still much resorted to by   
   pilgrims to implore her intercession. [2] This prelate was an   
   eye-witness to the great virtues of St. Lifard, whose hermitage was   
   very near his residence, ordained him priest, and allowed him to found   
   a monastery on the spot where his hermitage stood. This happened   
   before the 4th council of Orleans, in which bishop Mark subscribed in   
   541. St. Lifard soon assembled a numerous community, and was to it a   
   bright model of Christian perfection.   
      
   An extraordinary gift of miracles drew on him the admiration of men.   
   The year in which he died is not known; but it was some time after the   
   middle of the 6th century. His body was buried at Mehun; and over his   
   tomb was built, first a chapel, afterwards a famous collegiate church,   
   which is to this day enriched with his relics, and bears his name. A   
   church in the city of Orleans, and several others in the diocese, are   
   dedicated to God under his invocation. His name occurs in the Roman   
   Martyrology.   
      
   See his life in Surius and Mabillon, sæc. 1; Ben. also Saussaye, Annal. t. 3.   
      
   Note 1. Mehun in Orleanois is by mistake confounded by several with   
   Mehun in Berri, four leagues from Bourges, where was a royal castle   
   now falling to ruin, in which Charles VII., who had recovered France   
   from the English, suffered himself to die of hunger for fear of being   
   poisoned, in 1461, not Charles V. as Dom Vaissette mistakes.   
   Note 2. The marble tomb of Lewis XI. who chose to be buried there out   
   of devotion to the B. Virgin, is still shown there, though the   
   Huguenots plundered it, and burnt his bones.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Labor without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still   
   have the time.   
   --Saint John of God   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving   
   to that which is good, Loving one another with the charity of   
   brotherhood: with honour preventing one another.  [Romans 12:9-10] DRB   
      
      
   <<>><<>>   
   A prayer hymn for virtue:   
      
   A tone of pride or petulance repressed,   
   A selfish inclination firmly fought,   
   A shadow of annoyance set at naught,   
   A murmur of disquietude suppressed.   
      
   A peace in pressure possessed,   
   A reconcilement generously sought,   
   A purpose put aside -- a banished thought,   
   A word of self-explaining unexpressed.   
      
   Trifles they seem, these petty soul restraints,   
   Yet they who prove them such must need possess,   
   A constancy and courage grand and bold.   
      
   They are the trifles that have made the Saints;   
   Give me to practice them in humbleness,   
   And nobler power than mine doth no one hold.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)