From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Upright of Heart   
      
       "Do you know who the upright of heart are? They are those who wish   
   what God wishes. Therefore, do not try to twist God's will to your own   
   but correct your will to that of God.   
       The will of God is a rule of conduct. By it you have the means of   
   being converted and of correcting your evil ways."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 93, 18   
      
   Prayer: Put to flight my foolishness, Lord, that I may know you. Show   
   me the road I must travel that I may see you. Thus aided, I hope I   
   shall do all you have commanded me.   
   --St. Augustine--Soliloquies 1, 1   
      
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   October 1st – St. Bavo of Ghent, OSB Hermit (RM)   
    (also known as Allowin, Bavon)   
      
   Born in Brabant near Liege, c. 589; died near Ghent in 654 (according   
   to the majority; dates range from 624 to 654). The young Bavo,   
   christened Allowin, led a wild life as a wealthy landowner. He married   
   and fathered a daughter; otherwise, his life was totally disordered.   
   His sole object was to satisfy his every desire without regard to   
   justice or truth. When he needed more money, he would sell his   
   servants as serfs to neighboring landowners. Then his beloved wife   
   died. Only thereafter did he realize how selfish his life had been.   
      
   Upon hearing a sermon of Saint Amandus, his heart was convicted of his   
   sin. Bavo began his conversion to Christ by giving away all his   
   property, including his estate at Ghent which he offered to Saint   
   Amandus, who built a monastery there. Bavo begged to enter it, and   
   began a course of canonical penance. So great was his   
   self-mortification that after his death the name of the abbey was   
   changed from St. Peter's to St. Bavo's.   
      
   By great good fortune Bavo came across one man he had sold as a serf   
   many years before. Bavo begged the man to lead him by a chain in   
   humiliation as far as the city jail. Similar humility marked   
   everything he now did. Saint Amandus allowed him to become his   
   companion on missionary expeditions throughout France and Flanders,   
   during which Bavo's personal mortifications were the wonder of all who   
   saw them.   
      
   The austerities even of monastic life soon were not enough to satisfy   
   Saint Bavo's desire to discipline the body that he had once   
   over-indulged. He begged Amandus to give him permission to live as a   
   hermit. When permission was given, at first Bavo made his dwelling in   
   a hollow tree. Later he built a tiny cell, near Ghent in the forest of   
   Malmédun. He lived on vegetables and water, seeing only Amandus and   
   another friend, the saintly Abbot Floribert, until his death. He was   
   buried at Floribert's monastery nearby, which was later renamed after   
   him--Saint-Bavon.   
      
   So great was the impression left by Saint Bavo that 900 years later   
   when the diocese of Ghent was created, he was made its patron   
   (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia).   
      
   In art, Bavo is sometimes represented as a hermit, but generally shown   
   before his conversion: as a duke out hunting with a falcon or hawk on   
   his wrist. He may also be shown: (1) with a purse or giving alms; (2)   
   as a prince giving out alms in front of his palace; (3) with a sword   
   and scepter; (4) as an old king in armor, with a book and broken tree   
   trunk, a ship, and St. Bavo's monastery nearby; (5) with a hollow tree   
   near him; (6) with staff and a glove; (7) near a wagon; (8) with a   
   huge stone; or (9) with an angel holding a palm above him (Bentley,   
   Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   When we have once placed ourselves entirely in the hands of God, we   
   need apprehend no evil; if adversity comes, He knows how to turn it to   
   our advantage, by means which will in time be manifested to us.   
   -- St. Vincent of Paul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   but no human being can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly   
   poison.  [James 3:8] RSVCE   
      
      
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   Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, didst promise   
   to send the Holy Ghost to finish Thy work in the souls of Thy Apostles   
   and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me, that He may   
   perfect in my soul the work of Thy grace and Thy love. Grant me the   
   Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this   
   world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of   
   Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Thy divine truth,   
   the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of   
   pleasing God and gaining Heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may   
   bear my cross with Thee, and that I may overcome with courage all the   
   obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may   
   know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the   
   Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet   
   and amiable, the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving   
   reverence towards God, and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark   
   me, dear Lord, with the sign of Thy true disciples and animate me in   
   all things with Thy Spirit. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)