From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The 'new temple' of God's presence in the world   
      
   Jesus is the new temple (John 1:14; 2:19-22). In the Old Testament God   
   manifested his presence in the "pillar of cloud" by day and the   
   "pillar of fire" by night as he led them through the wilderness. God's   
   glory visibly came to dwell over the ark and the tabernacle (Exodus   
   40:34-38). When the first temple was built in Jerusalem God's glory   
   came to rest there (1 Kings 8). After the first temple was destroyed,   
   Ezekiel saw God's glory leave it (Ezekiel 10). But God promised one   
   day to fill it with even greater glory (Haggai 2:1-9; Zechariah 8-9).   
   That promise is fulfilled when the "King of Glory" himself comes to   
   his temple (Psalm 24:7-10; Malachi 3:1).  Through Jesus' coming in the   
   flesh and through his saving death, resurrection, and ascension we are   
   made living temples of his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Ask   
   the Lord to renew your faith in the indwelling presence of his Spirit   
   within you. And give him thanks and praise for coming to make his home   
   with you.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   June 1st - St. Simeon of Syracuse   
      
   (970?-1035)   
   It is amazing how “international” many Christians were in ancient   
   days, despite the lack of railroads, automobiles and planes. Nobody   
   was surprised when an Irish missionary arrived in Germany, or a Greek   
   was chosen archbishop of Canterbury, or a German or Frenchman became   
   pope. I suppose it was in part because today’s spirit of narrow   
   nationalism had not yet replaced the international spirit of the Roman   
   Empire, and Latin was still the lingua franca of Europe.   
      
   St. Simeon was one of these cosmopolitan saints. Born in Syracuse   
   (that is Siracusa in Sicily), he traveled widely before he ended up as   
   a hermit in western Germany.   
      
   When Simeon was about seven, his Greek father, a military man, took   
   him to Constantinople to be educated. He turned into a devout young   
   man, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and while there decided   
   to become a monk. He took the monastic habit and was ordained a deacon   
   at Bethlehem. Then he was received by the monastery at Mount Sinai in   
   Arabia. However, he was a hermit by disposition, so he eventually got   
   permission from the abbot of his monastery to live, for a certain   
   period, in a hermitage on top of Mount Sinai.   
      
   When he ended his period as a hermit, the abbot deputed him to go with   
   another monk to Rouen in France. Duke Richard II of Normandy lived   
   there. He had promised support for the Mount Sinai monastery, but had   
   not yet paid it. Simeon was told to collect the fund and bring it back   
   home.   
      
   Simeon accepted the mission (although reluctantly, as too “commercial”   
   for his taste). Now he set out on an amazing adventure that would make   
   a good movie scenario. His ship was captured by pirates while in the   
   eastern Mediterranean. The invaders murdered all aboard but Simeon,   
   who escaped death by swimming to shore. Then he walked to Antioch.   
      
   At Antioch, he had the good fortune to meet two abbots who were bound   
   for their homes in France and Germany after a pilgrimage to the Holy   
   Land. He and another monk, Cosmas, whom he had also met in Antioch,   
   decided to travel to France with them.   
      
   But Simeon’s misadventures were not yet over. While they were crossing   
   the Balkans by land, the governor of Belgrade arrested him and Cosmas.   
   Fortunately, they were not detained, so they made for the Adriatic   
   seashore across a dangerous, brigand-ridden countryside. Sailing for   
   Italy, they went to Rome and thence to southern France. Cosmas fell   
   ill there and died. Simeon finally did get to Rouen, but he found, to   
   his chagrin, that Duke Richard, his monastery’s would-be benefactor,   
   had also died.   
      
   Simeon now paid visits to the two abbots who had befriended him in   
   Antioch. One of them. Eberwin of Trier, Germany, introduced the Greek   
   monk to Trier’s Archbishop Poppo. Poppo invited Simeon to accompany   
   him on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land as companion and guide. So back   
   he went to the Near East. When they returned to Trier, however, the   
   monk decided to stay there as a hermit. Poppo granted his request to   
   use as a cell the tower next to Trier’s old Roman gate, the Porta   
   Nigra, and there he ceremoniously enclosed Simeon in his recluse cell.   
      
   The hermit from Syracuse spent the rest of his life in this cell. It   
   was no easy life. The devil beset him with many temptations. At one   
   point, some of the townsfolk, thinking him a magician, stoned his   
   hermitage. But he finally became regarded as a living saint and   
   wonder-worker. The whole population of Trier attended his funeral.   
   Abbot Eberwin wrote about his adventurous life, and in 1042, Pope   
   Benedict IX canonized him. He was raised to the altars of the Church 7   
   years after his death, being the second recorded solemn papal   
   canonization if we regard that of St. Ulric, bishop of Augsburg, as   
   having been the first.   
      
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   As the Lord knows for what we all are adapted, He gives to all their   
   positions as He sees to be most for His glory, for their salvation,   
   and the good of their neighbors. Our mistake, then, is in not   
   submitting ourselves totally to whatever He wishes to do with us.   
   --St. Teresa   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Fulfil ye my joy, that you be of one mind, having the same charity,   
   being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment.   
   Let nothing be done through contention: neither by vain glory.   
   But in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves:   
   Each one not considering the things that are his own,   
   but those that are other men's.  [Philippians 2:2-4] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   For Our Deceased Service Men   
      
   Thou art all-powerful, O God, and livest forever in light and   
   joy. Look with pity and love, we beseech Thee, upon those   
   men who have bravely fought and gallantly died for our   
   country. By laying down their lives, they have showed   
   supreme love for others. We implore Thee to accept their   
   sacrifice and their belief in the justice of the cause for which   
   they died. May their offering not be in vain. Deign to forgive   
   any sins or misdeeds they may have committed. Bring them   
   quickly we implore Thee, into Thine august presence where   
   fear, sadness, mourning and death no longer exist. Have pity,   
   in thy loving kindness on those they leave behind. In Thine own   
   inscrutable ways, make good their absence, and lavishly   
   bestow Thy love and consolations upon those deprived of   
   their presence. This we ask of Thee in the name of Jesus   
   Christ our King. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)