From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Humility is the only soil where God's grace and truth can take root   
      
       Jesus contrasts intellectual pride with child-like simplicity and   
   humility. The simple of heart are like "babes" or "little children" in   
   the sense that they see purely without pretense or falsehood and   
   acknowledge their dependence and trust in one who is greater, wiser,   
   and more trustworthy. They seek one thing--the "summum bonum" or   
   "greatest good" who is God himself. Simplicity of heart is wedded with   
   humility, the queen of virtues, because humility inclines the heart   
   towards grace and truth.   
       Just as pride is the root of every sin and evil inclination, so   
   humility is the only soil in which the grace of God can take root. It   
   alone takes the right attitude before God and allows him as God to do   
   all. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs   
   3:34, James 4:6). The grace of Christ-like humility inclines us   
   towards God and disposes us to receive God's wisdom and help. Allow   
   the Lord Jesus to heal the wounds of pride in your heart and to fill   
   you with the joy of the Holy Spirit who transforms us into the   
   likeness of Christ himself--who is meek and humble of heart (Matthew   
   11:29).   
      
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   October 15th - Thecla of Kitzingen, OSB Abbess   
   Also known as Thecla of England, Tecla,.Heilga   
      
   Memorial   
   15 October (Roman Martyrology)   
   28 September (diocese of Würzburg, Germany)   
      
   Boniface's request for help brought Thecla   
      
   The savage Teutonic people of Northern Europe were brought to Christ   
   by missionaries in the eighth century. The most famous of these   
   gospel-bearers was Boniface. Among his helpers were women.   
      
   Christianity succeeds best where it reaches both sexes in a   
   double-pronged attack. The importance of mature Christian women as   
   examples for new converts and as educators of children was not lost on   
   Boniface. He asked Tetta, the abbess of Wimborne, Dorset, to send him   
   assistants. Tetta sent Lioba and Thecla to his aid.   
      
   Boniface appointed these women as heads of monastic institutions where   
   they observed the Benedictine rule. Their work endured even after he   
   had been butchered by pagans. Many a man has been able to work on his   
   feet because others supported him on their knees. Boniface relied on   
   his "daughters" as more than heads of abbeys. He called on them to be   
   his prayer partners.   
      
   In a famous letter to the "...revered and dearly loved sisters   
   Leobgith and Thecla, and to Cynehild," he wrote: "I urge and direct   
   you, beloved daughters, to pray to our Lord frequently, as we trust   
   you do constantly, and will continue to do, as you have in the past .   
   . . and know that we praise God, and our heart's yearning grows that   
   God our Lord, refuge of the poor and hope of the lowly, will free us   
   from our straits and the trials of this evil age, that His word may   
   spread, and the wonderful Gospel of Christ be held in honor, that His   
   grace be not fruitless in me. . . And. . . pray that I may not die   
   without some fruit for that Gospel."   
      
   It seems that Thecla's character was so noble that when she oversaw   
   Kitzingen, she was simply called Heilga, which means "The Saint."   
      
   A grisly story is associated with the remains of St. Thecla. During   
   the Peasant Wars in Germany, rebels desecrated the graves of St.   
   Thecla and St. Adelheid (or Adelaide). One of the ruffians used their   
   heads to play a game of skittles. Their bodies were covered with   
   rubbish when a new church was built. Despite this outrage, the good   
   they did cannot be obliterated and we are sure that they will rise   
   again at the resurrection.   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   Resist your impatience faithfully, practicing, not only with reason,   
   but even against reason, holy courtesy and sweetness to all, but   
   especially to those who weary you the most.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high   
   things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Be not wise in your   
   own conceits.  (Rom. 12:16) DRB   
      
      
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   When I say,"Hail Mary"   
      
   When I say,"Hail Mary"   
   the heavens bow down,   
   the angels rejoice,   
   the earth jubilates,   
   hell trembles,   
   and the devils take flight!   
      
   St. Francis of Assisi   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)