From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Science of Divine Love   
      
   The science of divine love operates in the dimensions of intensity and   
   depth, rather than in the worldly one of quantity. Adopting this   
   principle, it follows that the smallest number of believers with the   
   most pure love will have the most significant effect on the Church,   
   compared to a greater number of believers who have less love for God.   
   The lives of the saints are a living witness to the power of one soul   
   in influencing “the destiny of the whole world,” as described vividly   
   in the Diary of St. Faustina.   See Prayer at bottom   
      
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   August 14th - Saint Eusebius, Priest and Martyr   
   (d. towards the end of the Third Century)   
      
   The Church celebrates on this day the memory of Saint Eusebius, who   
   among the Christians of his time distinguished himself by his spirit   
   of prayer and his apostolic virtues. When he was arraigned, Maxentius,   
   the governor of the Province, interrogated him and was furious at the   
   Saint’s constancy while he was placed on the rack and his sides were   
   torn with iron hooks. He sentenced him to die by fire at the stake;   
   but his unusual serenity when going to the place of execution caused   
   him to be summoned back to the tribunal, obviously by a particular   
   disposition of Providence.   
      
   The Emperor himself being in the region, the governor went to him and   
   told him the prisoner asked to be taken before him. The reason for   
   this request was that there had not been any recent edicts published   
   against the Christians. Saint Eusebius was advanced in age, and the   
   emperor Maximian said, after questioning him, “What harm is there that   
   this man should adore the God he talks of as superior to all the   
   others?” But the brutal Maxentius would not listen, and, like Pilate   
   facing Christ, the Emperor told the persecutors of the accused man to   
   judge the affair themselves. Maxentius therefore sentenced him to be   
   decapitated. Eusebius, hearing the sentence, said aloud, “I thank Your   
   goodness and praise Your power, O Lord Jesus Christ, because in   
   calling me to prove my fidelity, You have treated me as one of Yours.”   
   His martyrdom occurred towards the end of the third century.   
      
   Reflection: Let us learn, from the example of the Saints, courage in   
   the service of God. He calls upon us to endure suffering of body and   
   of mind, if it is necessary, to prove our fidelity to Him; and He   
   promises to support us by His strength, His light, and His heavenly   
   consolation.   
      
   Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer   
   suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer   
   draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.   
   --Saint Ephraem of Syria   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My Name,   
   He will give it to you. (John 16:23)   
      
      
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   O humility, love flower, I see how few souls possess you. Is it   
   because you are so beautiful, and at the same time, so difficult to   
   attain? O yes, it is both the one and the other. Even God takes great   
   pleasure in her. The floodgates of heaven are open to a humble soul,   
   and a sea of graces flows upon her. O how beautiful is a humble soul!   
   From her heart, as from a censer, rises a varied and most pleasing   
   fragrance which breaks through the skies and reaches God himself,   
   filling his Most Sacred Heart with joy. God refuses nothing to such a   
   soul; she is all-powerful and influences the destiny of the whole   
   world. God raises such a soul up to his very throne, and the more she   
   humbles herself, the more God stoops down to her, pursuing her with   
   his graces and accompanying her at every moment with his omnipotence.   
   Such a soul is most deeply united with God. O humility, strike deep   
   roots in my whole being. O Virgin most pure, but also most humble,   
   help me to attain deep humility. Now I understand why there are so few   
   saints; it is because so few souls are deeply humble.[5]   
   --Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)