From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    -- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 --   
      
    Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not   
   perversely, is not puffed up,  Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own,   
   is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil:   Rejoiceth not in   
   iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth: Beareth all things, believeth   
   all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  [1 Corinthians   
   13:4-7]  DRB   
   ===============================   
   This is true love--God's kind of love, directed outward toward others,   
   not inward toward ourselves. It is utterly unselfish. This kind of   
   love goes against our natural inclinations. It is possible to practice   
   this love only if God helps us set aside our own desires and   
   instincts, so that we can give love while expecting nothing in return.   
   Thus the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to   
   others. Try it!   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 23rd - St. Anne, Hermitess   
      
   Anne, also called Susanna, was born at Constantinople about the year   
   840.  Her father died while she was young, leaving a large fortune to   
   her mother, who brought her up with care.  Anne added personal beauty   
   to her material riches, but refused several offers of marriage.  One   
   suitor, Agarenus, was backed by the emperor himself, Basil the   
   Macedonian, and when Anne again refused she was subjected to   
   persecution and ill-treatment.  Hitherto she had led a monastic life   
   in the world, but now she fled to Leucadia, the promontory in Epirus,   
   and there passed the rest of her life in complete solitude.  She was   
   then about 28 and died 50 years later.   
      
   Long afterwards her tomb was the scene of such marvelous cures,   
   especially of those possessed by evil spirits, that it was opened; her   
   body was found quite undecayed and giving off a sweet smell, and   
   thenceforth St. Anne was held in great veneration by the Greeks.   
      
   It is interesting to note that Leucadia is also known as Saint Maura,   
   the name of a town thereon, after a virgin martyr of whom nothing at   
   all is known except that veneration for her memory was so great that   
   the apostate Emperor Julian, in order to overcome it, gave it out that   
   the cultus was really a disguised worship of Aphrodite.  The Roman   
   Martyrology mentions her on November 30, and puts her at   
   Constantinople; it does not name this St. Anne.   
      
   See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v.  It is noted by Martynov, Annus   
   Ecclesiasticus Graeco-Slavicus (in Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xi),   
   that in certain texts of the synaxaries the virgin is named Susanna,   
   not Anna.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   As there is not a moment in which man enjoys not the effects of God's   
   goodness, so there ought not to be a moment but he should have God   
   present in his thoughts.   
   -- St. Ambrose   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And Jesus knowing it, said to them: Why do you trouble this woman? For   
   she hath wrought a good work upon me.  For the poor you have always   
   with you: but me you have not always.  For she in pouring this   
   ointment on my body hath done it for my burial.  [Mt. 26:10-12] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A PRAYER FOR PERFECT TRUST   
      
   Oh, for the peace of a perfect trust,   
   My loving God, in thee;   
   Unwavering faith that never doubts   
   Thou chooses best for me!   
   Best, though my plans be all upset;   
   Best, though the way be rough;   
   Best, though my earthly store be scant;   
   In Thee I have enough.   
   Best, though my health and strength be gone,   
   Though weary days be mine,   
   Shut out from much that others have;   
   Not my will, Lord, but Thine!   
   And even though disappointments come,   
   They, too, are best for me,   
   To wean me from this changing world,   
   And lead me nearer Thee.   
   Oh, for the peace of a perfect trust   
   That looks away from all;   
   That sees thy hand in everything,   
   In great events or small.   
   That hears Thy voice--a Father's voice--;   
   Directing for the best.   
   Oh, for the peace of a perfect trust,   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)