From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Don't pursue human glory   
      
   "If the devil has been driven out and sin no longer reigns, then the   
   kingdom of God is established in us. As it is written in the Gospel,   
   'The kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say,   
   'Lo here,' or 'Lo, there.' Truly I say to you that the kingdom of God   
   is within you' (Luke 17:20-21). The only thing that can be 'within us'   
   is knowledge or ignorance of the truth and the affection for   
   righteousness or sin by which we prepare our hearts to be a kingdom of   
   Christ or the devil. St. Paul described the nature of this kingdom in   
   this way: 'For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but   
   righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Romans 14:17). If   
   the kingdom of God is within us and is righteousness, peace and joy,   
   then someone that remains in these is surely within the kingdom of   
   God. Someone that remains in unrighteousness, conflict and the   
   melancholy that kills the life of the spirit is already a citizen of   
   the devil's kingdom, of hell and of death. These are the signs whether   
   it is God's kingdom or the devil's."   
    by John Cassian (excerpt from  CONFERENCE 1.13.5)   
      
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   November 22nd - SS. Philemon and Apphia   
      
   PHILEMON, a citizen of Colossæ in Phrygia, a man of quality and very   
   rich, had been converted either by St. Paul, when he preached at   
   Ephesus, or by his disciple Epaphras, who first announced the gospel   
   at Colossæ. So great was the progress he had made in virtue in a short   
   time, that his house was become like a church, by the devotion and   
   piety of those who composed it, and the religious exercises which were   
   constantly performed in it: the assemblies of the faithful seem also   
   to have been kept there. Onesimus, a slave, far from profiting by the   
   good example before his eyes, became even the more wicked. He robbed   
   his master, and fled to Rome, where God permitted him to find out St.   
   Paul, who was then prisoner the first time in that city, in the year   
   62. That apostle, who was all to all to gain the whole world to Jesus   
   Christ, received this slave with the tenderness of a father, showing   
   so much the greater compassion as his wounds were the deeper. Habits   
   of theft are most difficult to be cured: Onesimus was probably engaged   
   in other evil courses, such crimes seldom go alone. Perhaps only   
   distress had brought him to St. Paul; yet the spirit of sincere   
   charity and piety, with which the apostle treated him, wrought an   
   entire change of his heart, so that its whole frame was renewed, and   
   the stream of all his appetites so turned, that of a passionate,   
   false, self-interested man, he was now humble, meek, patient, devout,   
   and full of charity.   
      
   True conversions are very rare, because nothing under a total and   
   thorough change will suffice. Neither tears, nor good desires, nor   
   intentions, nor the relinquishment of some sins, nor the performance   
   of some good works will avail anything, but a new creature; a word   
   that comprehends more in it than words can express, and which can only   
   be understood by those who feel it within themselves. Such was the   
   conversion of Onesimus, when he was instructed in the faith, and   
   baptized by St. Paul. The apostle desired to detain him that he might   
   do him those services which the convert could have wished himself to   
   have rendered to his spiritual master. But he would not do it without   
   the consent of him to whom he belonged; nor deprive Philemon of the   
   merit of a good work, to which he was persuaded it would be his great   
   pleasure to concur: in justice the slave owed a satisfaction and   
   restitution to his master. St. Paul, therefore, sent Onesimus back   
   with an excellent epistle to Philemon, in which he writes with an   
   inimitable tenderness and power of persuasion, yet with authority and   
   dignity. He styles himself prisoner of Jesus Christ, the more   
   feelingly to touch the heart of Philemon, and to move him to regard   
   his prayer. He joins Timothy, well known to Philemon, with himself,   
   and calls Philemon his beloved, and his assistant, who shared with him   
   the fruit and labour of the apostleship, to which the other   
   contributed all the succours in his power.   
      
   Apphia, his pious and worthy wife, the apostle calls his dear sister,   
   on the account of her faith and virtue. He would also interest in his   
   petition the whole church of Colossæ; Archippus, who governed it for   
   Epaphras, then in chains at Rome, and the domestic church or faithful   
   house of Philemon. He wishes them grace and peace. This was his   
   ordinary salutation. And what could he ask of God greater for them   
   than grace, which is the source and principle of Christian virtue, and   
   peace, which is its fruit and recompense? To praise a man to his face   
   is a most delicate and difficult task: this he does by thanking God   
   for Philemon, which is the only manner of praising another worthy of a   
   Christian, who knows that all good is the gift of God. Thus the   
   apostle commends his faith, charity, and liberality to all as a member   
   of Christ, and declares his own affection by the strongest token, that   
   of always remembering him, and commending him to God in all his   
   prayers; than which no one can give a more certain mark of his sincere   
   friendship. He uses the tender epithet of brother; and says, that the   
   saints have found comfort by him in the assistance he afforded to all   
   the afflicted brethren, whose interests were common among them.   
      
   At last he comes to the point, but proposes it with authority,   
   modestly putting Philemon in mind that, as an apostle, he could   
   command him in Christ; but is content to pray him, mentioning whatever   
   could render his entreaties more tender; as his name, which expressed   
   a great deal, his age and his chains: he intercedes for one whom he   
   calls his own bowels, and his son begotten in his chains: he speaks of   
   his theft and flight in soft terms, and mentions how serviceable he   
   had himself found him. He entreats and begs for his own sake, and   
   prays that the obligations which Philemon had to him, for the eternal   
   salvation of his own soul, and his all, might acquit Onesimus of his   
   debt and injustice. He concludes, conjuring him by their strict union   
   and brotherhood in Christ. Philemon, upon such a recommendation, with   
   joy granted Onesimus his liberty, forgave him his crimes, and all   
   satisfaction, and shortly after sent him back to St. Paul, to serve   
   him at Rome; but the apostle wanted not his corporal services, and   
   made him a worthy fellow-labourer in the gospel. Both Latins and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)