From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   -- 1 Timothy 2:1-4 --   
      
   I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and   
   thanksgiving be made for all people-- for kings and all those in   
   authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness   
   and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all   
   people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.   
   ========================   
   Giving thanks opens our eyes to see the world and people around us   
   from God's point of view. Who are you thankful for and how can you   
   pray for them?   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 1st - Feast of the Most Precious Blood   
      
   (The following is taken from Dom Prosper Guéranger's entry in The   
   Liturgical Year for July 1, in Volume XII of the 1983 Marian House   
   edition of the English translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook.)   
      
   John the Baptist has pointed out the Lamb, Peter has firmly   
   established his throne, Paul has prepared the bride; their joint work,   
   admirable in its unity, at once suggests the reason for their feasts   
   occurring almost simultaneously in the cycle. The alliance being now   
   secured, all three fall into shade; whilst the bride herself, raised   
   up by them to such lofty heights, appears alone before us, holding in   
   her hands the sacred cup of the nuptial-feast."   
      
   "This gives the key of today's solemnity, revealing how its appearance   
   in the heavens of the holy liturgy at this particular season is   
   replete with mystery. The Church, it is true, has already made known   
   to the sons of the new covenant, in a much more solemn matter, the   
   price of the Blood that redeemed them, its nutritive strength, and the   
   adoring homage is its due. On Good Friday, earth and heaven beheld all   
   sin drowned in the saving stream, whose eternal flood-gates at last   
   gave way beneath the combined effort of man's violence and of the love   
   of the divine Heart. The festival of Corpus Christi witnessed our   
   prostrate worship before the altars whereon is perpetuated the   
   Sacrifice of Calvary, and where the outpouring of the precious Blood   
   affords drink to the humblest little ones, as well as to the mightiest   
   potentates of earth, lowly bowed in adoration before it."   
      
   "How is it, then, that holy Church is now inviting all Christians to   
   hail, in a particular manner, the stream of life ever gushing from the   
   sacred fount? What else can this mean, but that the preceding   
   solemnities have by no means exhausted the mystery? The peace which   
   this Blood has made to reign in the high places as well as in the low;   
   the impetus of its wave bearing back the sons of Adam from the yawning   
   gulf, purified, renewed, and dazzling white in the radiance of their   
   heavenly apparel; the sacred Table outspread before them on the   
   waters' brink, and the chalice brimful of inebriation - all this   
   preparation and display would be objectless, all these splendours   
   would be incomprehensible, if man were not brought to see therein the   
   wooings of a love that could never endure its advances to be outdone   
   by the pretensions of any other. Therefore, the Blood of Jesus is set   
   before our eyes at this moment as the Blood of the Testament; the   
   pledge of the alliance proposed to us by God [Exodus 24: 8; Hebrews 9:   
   20]' the dower stipulated by eternal Wisdom for this divine union to   
   which He is inviting all men, and its consummation in our soul which   
   is being urged forward with such vehemence by the Holy Ghost."   
      
   "'Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in entering into the Holies   
   by the Blood of Christ,' says the apostle, 'a new and living way which   
   He hath dedicated for through the veil - that is to say, His flesh -   
   let us draw near with a pure heart in fullness of faith, having our   
   hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with   
   clean water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without   
   wavering, for He is faithful that hath promised. Let us consider one   
   another to provoke unto charity and to good works [Hebrews 10: 19-24].   
   And may the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great   
   Pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Blood of the   
   everlasting Testament, fit you in all goodness, that you may do His   
   will: doing in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through   
   Jesus Christ, to whom is glory forever and ever. Amen! [Hebrews 13:   
   20,21].'"   
      
   "Nor must we omit to mention here, that this feast is a monument of   
   one of the most brilliant victories of holy Church in our own age.   
   [Blessed Pope] Pius IX had been driven out from Rome in [November]   
   1848 by the triumphant revolution; but the following year, just about   
   this season, his power was re-established. Under the aegis of the   
   apostles on June 28 and the two following days, the eldest daughter of   
   the Church [a former nickname for France], faithful to her past   
   glories, swept the ramparts of the eternal city; and on July 2, Mary's   
   festival [the feast of the Visitation on the traditional calendar],   
   the victory was completed. Not long after this, a twofold decree   
   notified to the city and the world the Pontiff's gratitude and the way   
   in which he intended to perpetuate, in the sacred liturgy, the memory   
   of these events."   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you   
   want him to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the   
   Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming   
   the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed   
   Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you.   
   -- Saint John Bosco   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one   
   does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.   
   --St. Francis of Assisi   
      
      
   <><><>   
   HOW TO MOLD A SOUL   
      
   Just take a large or small soul,   
   And mix them well with prayer.   
   Turn them out with flowered hearts,   
   Away from satan's lair.   
   Set their paths toward glory,   
   With sugar or with spice.   
   Show them that above it all,   
   The bread is always nice.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)