From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Meditation:   
      
   I must prepare myself by doing each day what I can to develop   
   spiritually and to help others to do so. God tests me and trains me   
   and bends me to His will. If I am not properly trained, I cannot meet   
   the test when it comes. I must want God's will for me above all else.   
   I must not expect to have what I am not prepared for. This preparation   
   consists of quiet communion with God every day and gradually gaining   
   the strength I need.   
      
      
   February 19th - St. Conrad of Piacenza   
      
   Conrad was born at Piacenza, Lombardy, in the year 1290, of a very   
   noble family, and while still quite young, he married Euphrosyne, the   
   daughter of a nobleman of Lodi. He had a great fondness for chivalrous   
   sports and was an eager hunter.   
      
   One time when out hunting, his quarry hid itself in dense underbrush.   
   To force it into the open, Conrad directed his attendants to set fire   
   to the brushwood. The wind, however, drove the flames upon a nearby   
   grain field, where it continued to spread, destroying the entire crop   
   and a large forest besides. The governor of Piacenza at once sent out   
   armed men to apprehend the incendiary.   
      
   Filled with consternation at the unfortunate turn of the   
   conflagration, Conrad meanwhile fled into the city along certain   
   lonely roads. The posse, however, came upon a poor peasant who had   
   gathered a bundle of charred sticks and was carrying them into the   
   city. Believing him to be the guilty person, the men seized him. He   
   was tortured on the rack until they wrung from the poor man a   
   statement that he had set fire to the woods out of sheer spite. He was   
   condemned to death.   
      
   Not until the unfortunate victim was passing Conrad's house on the way   
   to execution, did Conrad learn why the sentence of death had been   
   imposed on the peasant. Driven by his conscience, Conrad rushed out,   
   saved the man from the hands of the bailiffs, and before all the   
   people acknowledged that he was the guilty person. He went to the   
   governor and explained that the conflagration was the result of a   
   mishap; that he was willing to repair all the damage done. His wife   
   joined him in his good will and sacrificed her dowry to assist in   
   making restitution.   
      
   The incident taught Conrad the vanity of the goods of this world, and   
   he resolved to give his attention only to eternal goods. He   
   communicated his sentiments to his wife, and found that she   
   entertained the same ideas. She went to the convent of Poor Clares and   
   received the veil there, while Conrad, who was only 25 years old, left   
   his native town and joined a group of hermits of the Third Order.   
      
   In a very short time he made such progress in virtue that the fame of   
   his sanctity attracted many of his former friends and acquaintances to   
   his hermitage. But it was Conrad's wish to forsake the world   
   completely; so he slipped away to Rome, and from there went to Sicily,   
   to the Noto valley, near Syracuse, where he hoped he could remain   
   unknown and in utter seclusion. He lived there for 36 years, the last   
   of which he spent in a lonely cave on a height since named Mount   
   Conrad.   
      
   There Conrad lived an extremely penitential life, sleeping on the bare   
   earth and taking only bread and water with some wild herbs for   
   nourishment. Nevertheless, he was subjected to some of the most   
   terrible assaults of the devil. But by means of prayer so pleasing to   
   God that he was granted the gifts of prophesy and miracles.   
      
   When Conrad perceived that his end was drawing near, he went to   
   Syracuse to make a general confession of his life to the bishop. On   
   the way flocks of birds flew about him and perched on his shoulders as   
   they used to do to St. Francis, and on the way back to his solitude   
   they accompanied him again, to the astonishment of all whom he met. On   
   the very same day he was seized with a fever, which resulted in his   
   death a few days later. He was kneeling before an image of the   
   Crucified when he peacefully passed away on February 19, 1351. In   
   accordance with his wishes he was buried in the church of St. Nicholas   
   at Noto, where his remains still repose in a silver shrine. Many   
   miracles have taken place there. In the year 1515 Pope Leo X permitted   
   his feast be celebrated at Noto. Urban VIII canonized him in 1625.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "The patient man is better than the valiant; and he that ruleth his   
   spirit, than he that taketh cities." [Proverbs 16: 32.]   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If you wish to be saved, fly into solitude, observe silence, and   
   repose in God by always keeping, yourself in his presence.   
   --St. Arsenius   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   ON MAKING RESTITUTION   
      1. Conrad and his wife generously put up their entire fortune to   
   repair the damage caused, without even stopping to think whether they   
   were really bound to make restitution. As a matter of fact the damage   
   was the result of a mischance rather than of any guilt on Conrad's   
   part. But the spirit of God urged him, after overcoming his first   
   fear, to do rather too much than too little, as Zacheus said to our   
   Lord: "If I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold"   
   (Luke 19:8). And how did almighty God reward Conrad's magnanimity? The   
   apparent misfortune turned out to be his greatest fortune. Without   
   doubt he would have lived as an ordinary distinguished gentleman, and   
   as such he would have died and appeared before the judgement-seat of   
   God. True, he now led a hard life of severe penance, but at heart he   
   was much happier than before, and he is today numbered among the   
   saints of heaven. Thus are sacrifices, made for conscience' sake,   
   rewarded by God a thousand times.   
      2. Consider that it is a strict duty to restore what one has   
   unjustly acquired, and to repair the damage one has caused, be it   
   through malice or through guilty carelessness. "If the sinner do   
   penance for his sins," says the Holy Spirit, "and do judgment and   
   justice, and restore the pledge and render what he has robbed, he   
   shall surely live and shall not die" (Ezech 33:14-15). To regret the   
   wrong done and to confess it, is not sufficient; even if you have   
   prayed much and given plenteous alms on that account, it does not   
   help. "The sin will not be remitted," says St. Augustine, "if that   
   which has been taken is not restored." If you are not in a position to   
   restore, or to restore to the full extent, or if you fear the loss of   
   your good name in consequence, then consult your confessor; he will be   
   able to point out means and ways of fulfilling your obligation and of   
   quieting your conscience.--In serious matters of this nature, have you   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)