From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The gift of the moments   
      
      Each moment of your day, which you devote to this new way of life   
   is a gift to God. The gift of the moments. Even when your desire to   
   serve God is sincere, it is not an easy thing to give Him many of   
   these moments: the daily things you had planned to do, given up gladly   
   so that you can perform a good service or say a kind word. If you can   
   see God's purpose in many situations, it will be easier to give Him   
   many moments of your day. Every situation has two   
   interpretations--your own and God's. Try to handle each situation in   
   the way you believe God would have it handled.   
      
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   December 5th - St. Sabas, Priest, Monk, Abbot   
   (439-532)   
      
   By the fourth century, monasteries had appeared in Palestine. Aspiring   
   ascetics sought to be like Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus   
   himself, who had found solitude in the desert east of Jerusalem. St.   
   Sabas, a leader of that early monasticism, founded seven monasteries,   
   three lauras and four cenobia. A laura is a settlement of hermits   
   living in caves and huts around a church. A community of monks who   
   live, worship, and work together is a cenobium. Sabas built well as   
   his chief monastery, the Mar Saba, still exists after 15 centuries.   
      
   The saint dwelt in monasteries most of his life. At age eight he ran   
   away from abusive relatives to a monastery in Cappadocia. Ten years   
   later he went to the monastery of St. Euthymius at Jerusalem, hoping   
   to become a hermit. But Euthymius judged him too young for absolute   
   solitude and placed him in a cenobium nearby. When he was 30, Sabas   
   was allowed to spend five days a week alone in the wilderness. After   
   Euthymius’s death, Sabas finally became an anchorite, dwelling in a   
   cave on the face of a cliff. So many monks came desiring to live under   
   his direction that he had to establish his first monastery, which   
   became the Mar Saba. Sabas did not give his disciples a written rule,   
   but he expected them to follow certain basic guidelines. He did not   
   micromanage their conduct. But he seized “teachable moments” to test   
   his disciples’ fidelity, as he did on the occasion described in this   
   account:   
      
   Once when journeying with a disciple from Jericho to the Jordan, this   
   champion of piety Sabas fell in with some people of the world among   
   whom was a girl of winning appearance. When they had passed by, the   
   elder, wishing to test the disciple, asked, “What about the girl who   
   has gone by and is one-eyed?” The brother replied, “No, father, she   
   has two eyes.” The elder said, “You are wrong, my child. She is   
   one-eyed.” The other insisted that he knew with precision that she was   
   not one-eyed but had indeed extremely fine eyes. The elder asked, “How   
   do you know that so clearly?”   
      
   He replied, “I, father, had a careful look, and I noted that she has   
   both her eyes.”   
   At this the elder said, “And where have you stored the precept that   
   says, ‘Do not fix your eye on her and do not be captured by her   
   eyebrows?’ (See Proverbs 6:25). Fiery is the passion that arises from   
   inquisitive looks. Know this: from now on you are not to stay with me   
   in a cell because you do not guard your eyes as you should.”   
      
   He sent him to the cenobium at Castellium and when he had spent   
   sufficient time there and learnt to keep a careful watch on his eyes   
   and thoughts, he received him as an anchorite into the laura. The   
   patriarch of Jerusalem ordained Sabas in 491 and two years later   
   appointed him head over all the monks of Palestine who were hermits.   
   When the saint was old, other patriarchs sent him on diplomatic   
   missions representing the church’s interests to the emperors at   
   Constantinople. Sabas died after a brief illness in 532.   
   Over the years Sabas traveled throughout Palestine, preaching the true   
   faith and successfully bringing back many to the Church. At the age of   
   91, in response to a plea from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas   
   undertook a journey to Constantinople in conjunction with the   
   Samaritan revolt and its violent repression. He fell ill and soon   
   after his return, died at the monastery at Mar Saba. Today the   
   monastery is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church,   
   and Saint Sabas is regarded as one of the most noteworthy figures of   
   early monasticism.   
   --by Anastpaul 2017   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If, when stung by slander or ill-nature, we wax proud and swell with   
   anger, it is a proof that our gentleness and humility are unreal, and   
   mere artificial show.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that   
   seeketh the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no   
   injustice in him.  (John 7:18)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   WHAT MUST WE DO?   
      
   St Paul tells us that we must do all we do, whether in word or work,   
   in the Name of Jesus."All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all   
   in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Col 3:17).   
      
   In this way, every act becomes an act of love and of merit, and   
   moreover, we receive grace and help to do all our actions perfectly   
   and well.   
      
   We must therefore do our best to form the habit of saying, "Jesus,   
   Jesus, Jesus," very often every day. We can do so when dressing, when   
   working--no matter what we are doing--when walking, in moments of   
   sadness, at home and in the street, everywhere.   
   Nothing is easier if only we do it methodically. We can say it   
   countless times every day.   
   Bear in mind that each time we say, "Jesus," devoutly:   
      
   1. we give God great glory,   
   2. we receive great graces for ourselves,   
   3. and we help the souls in Purgatory.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)