From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The great stumbling block--bad example   
      
   Jesus warns us of the terrible responsibility that we must set no   
   stumbling block in the way of another, that is, not give offense or   
   bad example that might lead another to sin. The young in faith are   
   especially vulnerable to the bad example of those who should be   
   passing on the faith. Jesus teaches that righteousness involves   
   responding to every situation in life in a way that fulfill's God's   
   law, not just externally but internally as well. Jesus says that evil   
   desires spring from the heart. That is why the sin of adultery must   
   first be dealt with in the heart, the place not only of the emotions,   
   but the mind, will, thought, and intentions as well.   
      
   ================   
   July 1st - Bl. Thomas Maxfield, Martyr   
      
   (A.D. 1616)   
      
   THOMAS MAXFIELD (or Macclesfield) was born at The Mere, Enville, in   
   the county of Stafford, about the year 1590. His father William was a   
   confessor of the faith, and at the time of Thomas's birth was actually   
   under sentence of death for harbouring priests. Thomas himself was   
   eventually ordained and sent on the mission in 1615.   
      
   Within 3 months he was arrested in London, and lodged in the   
   Gatehouse at Westminster. After the usual interrogations he was left   
   there for eight months, when, with the help of another prisoner, a   
   Jesuit, he attempted to escape by means of a rope let down from a high   
   window. But he landed right in the arms of a passer-by, who raised the   
   alarm. The turnkeys seized him and “thrust him under a table, girding   
   about his neck a massive collar of iron; to this again they fasten a   
   ponderous chain of an hundredweight ... and in this painful posture   
   they keep him for some hours till the morning". Then he was removed to   
   a filthy and verminous underground dungeon, and fastened in wooden   
   stocks, in such fashion that he could neither stand nor lie down   
   properly; and so he was left from before daybreak on Friday until   
   Monday night. Some of his fellow prisoners managed to get a blanket   
   for him, and his Jesuit confessor spoke words of encouragement through   
   a hole in the roof-and found the sufferer in very good heart.   
      
   At his trial Mr Maxfield refused to take the oath of allegiance to   
   King James in the form it was tendered, while protesting that he was   
   loyal to him as his true and lawful sovereign; and the next day he was   
   condemned for his priesthood to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The   
   Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Gondomar, made a personal intervention   
   at court to obtain Mr Maxfield's pardon or at least a reprieve; but   
   without avail.   
      
   Unusual crowds of people watched Bl. Thomas dragged to Tyburn the next   
   day, July I, many following him to the scaffold, including a number of   
   Spaniards. To the great vexation of the authorities it was found that   
   someone had decked the gibbet with garlands of flowers, and covered   
   the ground about it with leaves and sweet-smelling herbs. Bl. Thomas   
   addressed the crowd from the cart, declaring that he had had no other   
   object “but only to be serviceable to the souls of my dear countrymen"   
   by preaching the faith that St Augustine had preached to their   
   ancestors. In spite of the sheriff's peremptory order to the hangman   
   to cut him down quickly, the bystanders insisted that he should be   
   allowed to hang till he was dead, and so be spared the horrors of   
   disembowelling.   
      
   Special precautions were taken to prevent any relics of Bl. Thomas   
   Maxfield being preserved. Nevertheless the Spanish ambassador was able   
   to recover the body, part of which is still at Gondomar and the other   
   part at Downside.   
      
   In the year of his death a life of Bl. Thomas, by Dr Kellison, was   
   published at Douay, and in the following year an eye-witness account   
   of his execution: see Catholic Record Society publications, vol. iii.   
   See also MMP., pp. 344-353; DNB., vol. xxxvii; and the Downside   
   Review, vol. Xxxiv.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "They have abstained from the Eucharist and prayer, because they do   
   not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of Our Savior Jesus   
   Christ."   
   --St. Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of the Apostle John, concerning   
   the heretics of his day   
      
   Bible Quote   
   For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. (John 6:56)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The Eternity of the Precious Blood [2]   
      
   St. Peter tells us (I Peter i. 20) that the Precious Blood of Christ   
   was "foreknown before the foundations of the world." From all eternity   
   God had decreed that the Precious Blood of the Word made Man should be   
   shed for us. Before man had sinned. God had provided a remedy, and had   
   determined that if man should rebel against the sovereignty of God, He   
   would not cast the rebel off, but would redeem him from sin, even at   
   such a price as this. How can we sufficiently admire the love and   
   mercy of God, thus counteracting the effect of sin even before it was   
   committed!   
      
   God's foreknowledge of what was to happen did not affect the perfect   
   freedom of the human will, any more than the presence of a spectator   
   affects the freedom of those whose actions he watches. God determined   
   that the Precious Blood should be shed because He foreknew that man   
   would sin, and he foreknew that man would sin, because in His   
   omniscience. He foresaw that man acting freely would use his freedom   
   to disobey. Make an act of faith in man's freedom and God's   
   foreknowledge.   
      
   When God looks forward at my life what does he foresee? This depends   
   on myself and on my voluntary choice of good or of evil. What return   
   from me for the inestimable gift of the Precious Blood does He   
   foresee? Am I going to grieve and wound Him, Who, from all eternity,   
   decreed that His Precious Blood should be shed to win for me the   
   Kingdom of Heaven?   
      
   http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/July%201st.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)