From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Walk by faith in the truth   
      
   "Persevere now in walking by faith in the truth, that you may succeed   
   in coming at a definite and due time to the sight of the same truth.   
   For as the apostle says, 'While staying here in the body, we are away   
   from the Lord. For we are walking by faith, not by sight' (2   
   Corinthians 5:6-7). We are led to the direct sight and vision of the   
   Father by Christian faith. That is why the Lord says, 'No one comes to   
   the Father except through me.'"   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from SERMON 12.5)   
      
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   March 2nd - Bl. Foulque de Neuilly   
   (Fulco)   
      
   A popular Crusade preacher, d. March, 1202. At the end of the 12th   
   century he was curé at the church of Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the Diocese   
   of Paris (now the department of seine-et-Oise). According to Jacques   
   de Vitry he once led an irregular life, but experienced a sudden   
   conversion. Ashamed of his ignorance, he went to Paris to study under   
   Pierre, a chanter of Notre Dame. It was not long before his master   
   noticed his earnestness and had him preach in the church of   
   Saint-Séverin before a number of students. His eloquence was so great   
   that he was thought to be inspired by the Holy Ghost. Large crowds   
   assembled to hear him in the Place Champeaux where he was wont to   
   preach. He was especially severe in his denunciation of usurers and   
   dissolute women. In 1195, according to Rigord with the assent of the   
   Bishop of Paris, he began to preach in neighbourhood of Paris, and   
   soon afterwards met with successively in Normandy, at Lisieux and   
   Caen, later at Burgundy, Picardy, Flanders. He was credited with power   
   to work miracles, and from every quarter the sick were brought to him,   
   whom he cured by the laying on of hands and by the sign of the cross.   
      
   All the chroniclers are agreed that Fulco never flattered and was no   
   respecter of persons. According to Roger Hoveden it was he who told   
   King Richard Coeur-de-Lion that unless he married off his three   
   disreputable daughters, he would certainly come to a bad end. When   
   Richard exclaimed in a fury that the words proved his censor to be a   
   hypocrite and an impostor, for he had no daughters, the holy man   
   answered, “Yes, but indeed you have three daughters, and I will tell   
   you their names. The 1st is called Pride, the 2nd Avarice and the 3rd   
   Lust.”   
      
   After 1198 he preached the 4th Crusade amid much popular enthusiasm.   
   He declared later that in 3 years he had given the cross to 200,000   
   persons. According to Jean de Flixecourt, it was Pierre le Chantre who   
   pointed out his ability as a preacher to Innocent III. In November,   
   1198, the pope conferred upon him the necessary powers, with the right   
   of choosing his assistants among the secular clergy (Historiens de   
   France, XIX, 369). The chief of these were Pierre de Proussi,   
   Rustache, Abbot of Flai, and Herloin, a monk of Saint-Denis. Herloin   
   even led a band of Breton Crusaders as far as Saint-Jean d'Acre. In   
   1200 many nobles of Northern France had taken the cross. On the 19th   
   of March of that year Foulque preached at Liège (Hist. de France,   
   XVIII, 616). After Boniface of Montserrat had been chosen leader of   
   the crusade Foulque gave him the cross at Soissons. In 1201 he   
   assisted at the chapter of Cîteaux with Boniface, and entrusted to the   
   Cistercians a portion of the alms he had collected for the Holy Land.   
   There used to repair the ramparts of Acre and Tyre, but he had aroused   
   distrust, and his later success was slight. He returned to Neuilly,   
   where he restored the parish church, which is still in existence. When   
   Foulque died, he was regarded as a saint.   
      
   Contemporary chroniclers, such e.g. as Roger Hoveden, Rigord and Ralph   
   Coggeshall, as well as the later Jordan, provide a good deal of   
   information about Fulco. See also Raynald’s continuation of Baronius’s   
   Annales Ecclesiastici, s.a. 1198, nn. 38-42.   
      
      
   Bible Quote   
   That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that   
   they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast   
   sent me.   (John 17:21)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Meditation   
      In the passion of our blessed Saviour, six things chiefly are to be   
   meditated upon. First, the bitterness of his sorrow, that we may   
   compassionate with him.  Secondly, the greatness of our sins, which   
   were the cause of his torments, that we may abhor them. Thirdly, the   
   greatness of the benefit, that we may be grateful for it. Fourthly,   
   the excellency of the divine charity and bounty therein manifested,   
   that we may love him more fervently. Fifthly, the conveniency of the   
   mystery, that we may be drawn to admiration of it. Lastly, the   
   multiplicity of virtues of our blessed Saviour which did shine in this   
   stupendous mystery, that we may partly imitate and partly admire them;   
   wherefore, in the midst of these meditations, let us sometimes   
   compassionate with our blessed Saviour in the extremity of his   
   sorrows; extreme indeed, both by reason of the tenderness of his body,   
   as also, for the great affection he bore unto our souls.   
   He did suffer them without any manner of consolation, as we shall   
   speak hereafter in its proper place. Sometimes let us stir up in   
   ourselves compunction for our sins, which were the cause of his great   
   sufferings. Sometimes let us kindle in our souls an ardent affection,   
   considering his great affection towards us, which upon the cross he   
   declared and manifested to the whole world. And the benefit which he   
   bestowed upon us in his passion, because he bought us with the   
   inestimable price of his precious blood, of which only, we reap the   
   benefit and commodity.   
   --St. Peter of Alcantara   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)