From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Great Commission   
      
   "The command to the apostles to be witnesses to him in Jerusalem,   
   Judea, Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth was not   
   addressed exclusively to those to whom it was immediately spoken. They   
   alone would not be the only ones who would carry such an enormous task   
   to completion. Similarly he seems to be speaking to the apostles very   
   personally when he says: "Behold I am with you even to the end of the   
   world," yet who does not know that he made this promise to the   
   universal church which will last from now even to the consummation of   
   the world by successive births and deaths?"   
   --St. Augustine-- (excerpt from Letter 199, To Hesychius 49)   
      
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   April 10th - Blessed Antony Neyrot, OPM   
      
   Born in Rivoli, Piedmont, Italy; died in Tunis, 1460; cultus approved   
   by Clement XIII. Blessed Antony renounced his faith. He expiated his   
   sin with an act of heroism that merited heaven, washing away in his   
   own blood the denial that might have cost him his soul.   
      
   Little is known of Antony's childhood. He became a Dominican at Saint   
   Antoninus. After completing his studies, Antony was ordained and lived   
   for a time at San Marco, the famous Dominican monastery in Florence.   
   Becoming restless, he asked for a change of mission and was sent to   
   Sicily. He didn't like this either, so he set out for Naples. On this   
   voyage, his ship was captured by pirates, and Antony, along with the   
   other passengers, was taken, bound, to Africa. Here the passengers   
   were led through the streets for all to see.   
      
   The battle of Lepanto was still 100 years in the future, but Turkish   
   aggression, which was to bring about this great battle, was   
   commonplace in Antony's time. Some captives were treated leniently,   
   others very cruelly. The Islamic king of Tunis seems to have liked   
   young Antony because he ordered that kindness should be shown to him.   
   Antony was not even confined, until his arrogance angered his captors   
   into more severe restrictions, but Antony was impatient and resented   
   the very idea of captivity. Being placed in prison, living on a diet   
   of bread and water, he soon collapsed. Then, as the Islamics had   
   hoped, he denied his faith in order to buy his freedom.   
      
   Disaster followed disaster. He lost all faith in Christianity and   
   began to translate the Koran. He was adopted by the king, married a   
   Turkish lady of high rank, and was given the freedom of the city.   
      
   Into the false paradise came the news of the death of Saint Antoninus.   
   Love for his old master stirred in Antony a yearning for the Truth he   
   had abandoned. He resolved to return to the Christian faith, although   
   it meant certain death.   
      
   In order that his return might be as public as his denial had been, he   
   waited until the king returning in triumph from a victory over the   
   Christians, had a public procession. Having confessed and made his   
   private reconciliation with God, Antony, clothed in a Dominican habit,   
   at that moment mounted the palace steps where all could see him.   
      
   In a loud voice he proclaimed his faith, and his sorrow at having   
   denied it. The king at first disbelieved his ears, then he became   
   angry. Failing to change the mind of the young man, he commanded that   
   he be stoned to death.   
      
   Antony died under a shower of stones, proclaiming to the last his   
   faith and his sorrow. It was Holy Thursday, 1460. His body was   
   recovered at great expense from the Islamics and returned to Rivoli,   
   where his tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage. Many miracles were   
   performed there, and, until very recently, an annual procession was   
   held at his shrine. In the procession, all the present-day members of   
   his family, dressed in black, walked proudly behind the statue of   
   Blessed Antony (Benedictines, Dorcy, Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   To think ourselves imperfect, and others perfect--that is happiness.   
   That creatures recognize we are without virtue takes nothing from us,   
   makes us no poorer; it is they who by this lose interior joy; for   
   there is nothing sweeter than to think well of our neighbor.   
   --St. Therese of Lisieux   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.   
   But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and   
   brought low. Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for   
   our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through   
   his wounds we are healed.  (Isaiah 53:4-5 )   
      
      
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   Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead   
      
   "Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because   
   the hand of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.   
      
   20th DAY   
      
   He whom we mourn is in Heaven, safe from all miseries and he awaits us.   
      
   Prayers:  Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.   
      
   De Profundis   
      
      Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,   
   O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.   
      Let Thine ears be attentive to the   
   voice of my supplication.   
      If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,   
   O Lord, who shall stand it?   
      For with Thee there is merciful   
   forgiveness: and by reason of Thy   
   law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.   
   My soul hath relied on His word;   
   my soul hath hoped in the Lord.   
      From the morning watch even until   
   night; let Israel hope in the Lord.   
   Because with the Lord there is mercy;   
   And with Him plenteous redemption.   
      And He shall redeem Israel from   
   all its iniquities.   
      Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,   
   And let perpetual light shine upon them:   
      May they rest in peace. Amen.   
      
   Most merciful Jesus, by the merits of Thy five wounds, hear our   
   prayers in behalf of the faithful departed now awaiting Thy word in   
   Purgatory. Grant, O Lord, to show particular mercy to the soul that   
   did most to propagate the devotion to Thy Sacred Heart while on earth.   
   Speed his journey to Heaven, that he may join Thy angels in praising   
   Thee forever   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)