From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   THE DEVIL'S BEATITUDES   
      
   Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend   
   an hour once a week with their fellow Christians - they are my best   
   workers.   
      
   Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be   
   thanked - I can use them.   
      
   Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church -- they are my   
   missionaries.   
      
   Blessed are the trouble makers -- they shall be called my children.   
      
   Blessed are the complainers - I'm all ears to them.   
      
   Blessed are those who are bored with the minister's mannerisms and   
   mistakes -- for they get nothing out of his sermons.   
      
   Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own   
   church -- for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.   
      
   Blessed are those who gossip -- for they shall cause strife and   
   divisions that please me.   
      
   Blessed are those who are easily offended -- for they will soon get   
   angry and quit.   
      
   Blessed are those who do not give their offering to carry on God's   
   work -- for they are my helpers.   
      
   Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and   
   sister -- for he shall be with me forever.   
      
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   September 26th - St. John of Meda   
   Also known as John Oldrati, John Oldradi, John of Como   
      
   THERE is considerable discussion about the origins of the penitential   
   association of lay-people who were in the middle ages called   
   Humiliati, and the quite unreliable legend of St. John of Meda does   
   little but add to the confusion. In the earlier part of the 12th   
   century numbers of persons of good position in northern Italy, while   
   still living “in the world”, gave themselves up entirely to works of   
   penance and charity; and we are told that in the year 1134 some of the   
   men, on the advice of St. Bernard, gave up secular life altogether and   
   began community life at Milan.   
      
   At this time, it is said, there was a certain secular priest from   
   Como, John of Meda, who had been a hermit at Rodenario, following a   
   vision of the Virgin Mary, joined the Humiliati in 1134. He belonged   
   to the Oldrati of Milan, and was a welcome recruit for the new   
   community. On his recommendation they chose to live under the Rule of   
   St. Benedict, which St. John adapted to their needs, but they   
   nevertheless called themselves “canons”. Among the peculiar   
   observances which St. John is supposed to have introduced was the   
   daily recitation of the Little Office of our Lady and the use of a   
   special Divine Office, called simply the “Office of the Canons”.   
   Whatever the early history of the Humiliati, the order eventually went   
   into a bad decline and was suppressed by the Holy See in 1571.   
      
   In the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vii, the Bollandists have   
   published a short medieval life, introducing it with lengthy   
   prolegomena. It is much to be feared that this pretended biography and   
   indeed the whole traditional early history of the Humiliati is no   
   better than a romance. A review of the controversy is impossible here,   
   but it has been excellently summarized, with abundant bibliographical   
   references, by F. Vernet in DTC., vol. vi, cc. 307-321. It must   
   suffice to mention the important work of L. Zanoni, Gli Umiliati nei   
   loro rapporti con I'Eresia (1911); the earlier investigation of   
   Tiraboschi, Vetera Humiliatorum Monumenta (1766-1768); and the perhaps   
   hypercritical article of A. de Stefano, “LeOrigini dell' ordine degli   
   Umiliati” in the Rivista storico-critica delle scienze teologice, vol.   
   ii (1906), pp. 851-871.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they   
   shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.  (Matt. 12:36)   
   DRB   
      
      
       Saint Quote:   
   "It is no small struggle to be freed from self-esteem. Such freedom is   
   to be attained by the inner practice of the virtues and by more   
   frequent prayer; and the sign that you have attained it is that you no   
   longer harbour rancour against anybody who abuses or has abused you."   
   --St. Maximos the Confessor.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   God's spirit    
      
   God's spirit is all about you all day long. You have no thoughts, no   
   plans, no impulses and no emotions that He does not know about. You   
   can hide nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to   
   that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of   
   others. God sees in secret, but He rewards openly. If you are in   
   harmony with the Divine Spirit, doing your best to live the way you   
   believe God wants you to live, you will be at peace. I pray that I may   
   always feel God's presence. I pray that I may realize this Presence   
   constantly all through the day.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)