From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   So do not start worrying   
      
       “So do not start worrying:  Where will my food come from?  Or my   
   drink?  Or my clothes?   These are the things the pagans are always   
   concerned about.  Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these   
   things.  Instead be concerned about everything else with the Kingdom   
   of God and with what He required of you and He will provide You with   
   all those other things.   So do not worry about tomorrow;  it will   
   have enough worries of its own.  There is no need to add to the   
   trouble each day brings.”… (Mt. 6:31-34)   
      
   ============   
   May 27th - Saint Augustine Bishop, Apostle of England   
   (by Fr. Prosper Gueranger 1870)   
      
   Four hundred years had scarcely elapsed, since the glorious death of   
   Eleutherius, when a 2nd Apostle of Britain ascended from this world,   
   and on this same day, to the abode of eternal bliss. We cannot but be   
   struck at this circumstance of our two Apostles' names appearing thus   
   together on the Calendar: it shows us, that God has His own special   
   reasons in fixing the day for the death of each one among us. We have   
   more than once noticed these providential coincidences, which form one   
   of the chief characteristics of the Liturgical Cycle. What a beautiful   
   sight is this which is brought before us today, of this first   
   Archbishop of Canterbury, who, after honouring on this day, the   
   saintly memory of the holy Pontiff from whom England first received   
   the Gospel, himself ascended into heaven, and shared with Eleutherius   
   the eternity of heaven's joy! Who would not acknowledge in this, a   
   pledge of the predilection wherewith heaven has favoured this country,   
   which, after centuries of fidelity to the Truth, has now, for three   
   hundred years, been an enemy to her own truest glory!   
      
   The work begun by Eleutherius had been almost entirely destroyed by   
   the invasion of the Saxons and Angli; so that a new Mission, a new   
   preaching of the Gospel, had become a necessity. It was Rome that   
   again supplied the want. St. Gregory the Great was the originator of   
   the great design. Had it been permitted him, he would have taken upon   
   himself the fatigues of this Apostolate to our country. He was deeply   
   impressed with the idea that he was to be the spiritual Father of   
   those poor Islanders, some of whom he had seen exposed in the   
   market-place of Rome, that they might be sold as slaves. Not being   
   allowed to undertake the work himself, he looked around him for men   
   whom he might send as Apostles to our Island. He found them in the   
   Benedictine Monastery, where he himself had spent several years of his   
   life. There started from Rome forty Monks, with Augustine at their   
   head, and they entered England under the Standard of the Cross.   
      
   Thus the new race, that then peopled the Island, received the Faith,   
   as the Britains had previously done, from the hands of a Pope; and   
   Monks were their teachers in the science of salvation. The word of   
   Augustine and his companions fructified in this privileged soil. It,   
   of course, took him some time before he could provide the whole nation   
   with instruction; but neither Rome, nor the Benedictines, abandoned   
   the work thus begun. The few remnants, that were still left of the   
   ancient British Christianity, joined the new converts; and England   
   merited to be called, for long ages, the "Island of Saints."   
      
   The history of St. Augustine's Apostolate in England is of a thrilling   
   interest. The landing of the Roman Missioners, and their marching   
   through the Country, to the chant of the Litany; the willing and   
   almost kind welcome given them by king Ethelbert; the influence   
   exercised by his queen Bertha, (who was French and Catholic,) in the   
   establishment of the Faith among the Saxons; the baptism of ten   
   thousand Neophytes, on Christmas Day, and in the bed of a river; the   
   foundation of the metropolitan See of Canterbury, one of the most   
   illustrious Churches of Christendom by the holiness and noble doings   
   of its Archbishops; yes, all these admirable episodes of England's   
   conversion are eloquent proofs of God's predilection of our dear Land.   
   Augustine's peaceful and gentle character, together with his love of   
   contemplation amidst his arduous Missionary labours, gives an   
   additional charm to this magnificent page of the Church's history.   
   But, who can help feeling sad at the thought, that a country,   
   favoured, as ours has been, with such graces, should have apostatized   
   from the Faith? have repaid with hatred that Rome, which made her   
   Christian? and have persecuted, with unheard-of cruelties, the   
   Benedictine Order, to which she owed so much of her glory?   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is needful also to make use of tradition, for not everything can be   
   gotten from sacred Scripture. The holy apostles handed down some   
   things in the scriptures, other things in tradition.   
   -- Saint Epiphanius of Salamis   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   May his name endure for ever,   
       his fame continue as long as the sun!   
   May men bless themselves by him,   
       all nations call him blessed!  [Psalm 72:17]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Our Morning Offering   
      
   Come, most gracious Spirit, come!   
   Come, Mercy beyond all words   
   and Grace beyond all comparing.   
   Come, everlasting Fire, Dove unchangeable.   
   come down, in pity and never leave us,   
   inbreathe, inpour Yourself to fill and enliven   
   us with Your Spirit.   
   You are our union, You are our Uniter.   
   Let Your fire join and keep us joined.   
   Feed Your new chicks, most holy Dive   
   and lead them forth.   
   Lead them through to the eternal nest,   
   where with God the Father   
   and the Son You abide for all eternity. Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)