From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Simplicity   
      
   God alone is simple by essence; those who become   
   as little children are most like to God.   
      
   'With two wings man ascends above earthly things,   
   to wit, by simplicity and purity.'--Imitation.   
      
   Our Lady is the reward of those who humble themselves as little   
   children in the kingdom of God. Once when asked what he cared for most   
   in the world, S. Joseph answered: 'I desire nothing but to reside at   
   the Grotella near the image of the Blessed Virgin, whom I venerate and   
   love.' When he entered the church of Assisi for the first time, and   
   saw in the roof a picture of the Mother of God, like that of the   
   Grotella, with a loud cry exclaiming, 'My Mother, thou hast followed   
   me,' he flew to a height of forty-four feet to meet our Lady in the   
   air. He would accept no present but flowers, with which he adorned his   
   picture of the Madonna. Then he said playfully: 'My Mother is   
   capricious: I bring her flowers, and she does not care for them;   
   cherries, and she will not accept them. I ask her, then, what she   
   desires, and she answers: 'It is the heart which I care for; I feed   
   upon the homage of the heart.'   
      
   'Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little   
   child, he is greater in the kingdom of heaven.'--Matt, xviii. 4.   
      
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   April 29th - Saint Peter of Verona, Mystic, Martyr   
    (1206-1252)   
      
   In 1205 the glorious martyr Peter was born at Verona of Manichean   
   parents; there he nonetheless attended a Catholic school. One day his   
   Manichean uncle asked what he learnt there. “The Creed,” answered   
   Peter: “I believe in God, Creator of heaven and earth.” No arguments   
   could shake his faith, and at the age of 16 he received the habit from   
   Saint Dominic himself at Bologna.   
      
   After his ordination, he preached to the heretics of Lombardy and   
   converted multitudes. Saint Peter was constantly obliged to dispute   
   with heretics, and although he was able to confound them, still the   
   devil took occasion thereby to tempt him one day against faith.   
   Instantly he had recourse to prayer before an image of Our Lady, and   
   heard a voice saying to him the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel,   
   “I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith may not fail; and thou   
   shalt confirm thy brethren in it.” (Luke 22:32)   
      
   He often conversed with the Saints, and one day the martyred virgins   
   Catherine, Agnes and Cecilia appeared to him and conferred with him. A   
   passing religious, hearing their feminine voices, accused him to their   
   Superior, who without hesitation or questions, exiled him to a convent   
   where no preaching was being done. Saint Peter submitted humbly, but   
   complained in prayer to Jesus crucified that He was abandoning him to   
   his bad reputation. The crucifix spoke: “And I, Peter, was I too not   
   innocent? Learn from Me to suffer the greatest sorrows with joy.”   
   Eventually his innocence was brought to light; for his part, he had   
   learned in his solitude to love humiliation and confusion.   
      
   Again engaged in preaching, miracles accompanied his exhortations. He   
   traveled all over Italy and became famous. Once when preaching to a   
   vast crowd under the burning sun, the heretics defied him to procure   
   shade. He prayed, and a cloud overshadowed the audience.   
      
   In one city, a prominent man had been won to heresy, because the   
   devil, taking the form of the Blessed Virgin, appeared at the   
   heretics' meetings and encouraged him to join them. Peter, determined   
   to win the man back to the truth, went to the meeting and, when the   
   devil appeared in his disguise, held up a small pyx in which he had   
   placed a consecrated Host. "If you are the Mother of God," cried   
   Peter, "adore your Son!" The devil fled in dismay and many were   
   converted.   
      
    Every day at the elevation of the Mass he prayed, “Grant, Lord, that   
   I may die for Thee, who for me didst die.” His prayer was answered.   
   His enemies, confounded by him, sought his life. Two of them attacked   
   him in 1252 on the road to Milan and struck his head with an axe.   
   Saint Peter fell, commended himself to God, dipped his finger in his   
   own blood, and wrote on the ground, “I believe in God, Creator of   
   heaven and earth.” He was then stabbed to death. The brother religious   
   accompanying him also suffered death. The details of the crime were   
   made known by Saint Peter’s murderer, named Carino, who after fleeing   
   from justice confessed his crime, asking for a penance from the   
   Dominican Fathers. He took the habit, and according to their testimony   
   lived the life of a saint and persevered to the end. Miracles at Saint   
   Peter’s tomb and elsewhere converted a great many heretics.   
   Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints,   
      
   Reflection. From his boyhood Saint Peter boldly professed his faith   
   among heretics. He spent his life in preaching the Faith to them and   
   received the glorious and long-desired crown of martyrdom at their   
   hands. Are we, too, courageous, firm, zealous, full of prayer for   
   their conversion, and unflinching in our profession of faith?   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   It is necessary that scandals come, but woe to the man through whom   
   scandal does come!  (Matt. 18:7)   
      
      
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   CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH - The Benedictus   
   (Luke 1:68-79)   
      
   Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;   
   he has come to his people and set them free.   
   He has raised up for us a mighty savior,   
   born of the house of his servant David.   
      
   Through his holy prophets he promised of old   
   that he would save us from our enemies,   
   from the hands of all who hate us.   
      
   He promised to show mercy to our fathers   
   and remember his holy covenant.   
      
   This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:   
   to set us free from the hands of our enemies,   
   free to worship him without fear,   
   holy and righteous in his sight   
   all the days of our life.   
      
   You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the   
   Most High;   
   for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,   
   to give his people knowledge of salvation   
   by the forgiveness of their sins.   
      
   In the tender compassion of our God   
   the dawn from on high shall break upon us,   
   to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the   
   shadow of death,   
   and to guide our feet into the way of peace. AMEN.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)