From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Gratitude for God's Grace (IV)   
      
   Set yourself always in the lowest place, (Luke 14:10) and you shall be   
   awarded the highest; for the highest cannot stand without the lowest.   
   The Saints stand highest in God's eyes who are lowest in their own;   
   and the more glorious they are, the more humble is their spirit.   
   Filled with truth and heavenly glory, they have no desire for   
   vainglory. Grounded and established in God, they cannot be proud. They   
   ascribe all goodness to God; they seek no glory from one another, but   
   the glory, which comes from God alone (John 5:44). They desire above   
   all things, and strive always, that God be praised in themselves and   
   in all His Saints.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 2 Ch 10   
      
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   May 23rd - Blessed Ivo of Chartres   
   (Also known as Yves, Yvo)   
      
   Memorial 23 December on some calendars   
      
   Born of a noble family about 1040; From the neighbourhood of Beauvais,   
   his native country, he went for his studies first to Paris and thence   
   to the Abbey of Bee in Normandy, at the same time as Anselm of   
   Canterbury, to attend the lectures given by Lanfranc. About 1080 he   
   became, at the desire of his bishop, prior of the canons of   
   St.-Quentin at Beauvais. He was then one of the best teachers in   
   France, and so prepared himself to infuse a new life into the   
   celebrated schools of Chartres, of which city he was appointed bishop   
   in 1090, his predecessor, Geoffroy, having been deposed for simony.   
      
   His episcopal government, at first opposed by the tenants of Geoffroy,   
   ranged over a period of 25 years. No man, perhaps, is better portrayed   
   in his writing than is Ivo in his letters and sermons; in both he   
   appears as a man always faithful to his duties, high-minded, full of   
   zeal and piety, sound in his judgments, a keen jurist,   
   straight-forward, mindful of others' rights, devoted to the papacy and   
   to his country, at the same time openly disapproving of what he   
   considered wrong. This explains why he has been sometimes quoted as a   
   patron of Gallican Liberties and looked upon by Flaccus Illyricus as   
   one of the "witnesses to the truth" in his "Catalogus". Very often Ivo   
   was consulted on theological, liturgical, political, and especially   
   canonical matters.   
      
    Of his life little more is known than may be gathered from his   
   letters. As bishop he strongly opposed Philip the First, who wished to   
   desert Bertha, his legitimate wife, and marry Bertrade of Anjou   
   (1092); his opposition gained him a prison cell. In the Investiture   
   struggle then raging in France, and especially in Germany, Ivo   
   represented the moderate party. Though he died too early to witness   
   the final triumph of his ideas with the Concordat of Worms (1122), his   
   endeavours and his doctrines may be said to have paved the way for an   
   agreement satisfactory to both sides. His views on the subject are   
   fully expressed in several of his letters, especially those of the   
   years 1099, 1106, and 1111 (Epistolae, lx, clxxxix, ccxxxii, ccxxxvi,   
   ccxxxvii, etc.); these letters are still of interest as to the   
   question of the relationship between Church and State, the efficacy of   
   sacraments administered by heretics, the sin of simony, etc.   
      
    His most famous literary undertaking was a collection of decrees   
   drawn from papal and conciliar letters and canons accepted by the   
   fathers. This is preserved to us in two, if not three, independent   
   compilations. We have also 24 sermons and 288 letters which shed an   
   interesting light on contemporary history and ecclesiastical   
   discipline.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood I could do nothing   
   else but live for him, my religious vocation dates from the same   
   moment as my faith: God is so great. There is such a difference   
   between God and everything that is not.   
   --Blessed Charles de Foucauld   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by   
   the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in no   
   more, because he delighteth in mercy. [Micah 7:18] DRB   
      
      
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   "Scripture says that God resists the arrogant but gives grace to the   
   humble. We should associate with those to whom God's grace has been   
   given."   
    St. Clement, Bishop of Rome [m. 96?100 AD] Letter to the Corinthians I.30.2-3   
      
   "Draw near to God in humility, by walking in his footsteps, and he   
   will draw near to you in his mercy, setting you free from all anxiety.   
   For nobody is far away from God in terms of physical distance; the   
   problem is one of attitudes and emotions."   
    The Venerable Bede, Commentary on the Epistle of St. James   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)