From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The only foundation that can keep us safe   
      
   What's the significance of the story for us? (Mt 7:21-29)  The kind of   
   foundation we build our lives upon will determine whether we can   
   survive the storms and trials of life that are sure to come. Builders   
   usually lay their foundations when the weather and soil conditions are   
   at their best. It takes foresight to know how a foundation will stand   
   up against adverse conditions. Building a house on a flood plain, such   
   as a dry river-bed, is a sure bet for disaster! Jesus prefaced his   
   story with a warning: We may fool one another with our words, but God   
   cannot be deceived. He sees the heart as it truly is - with its   
   motives, intentions, desires, and choices (Psalm 139:2).   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 7th - Bl. Peter To Rot, Martyr   
   (1912-1945)   
      
   When a pope beatifies a holy person in St. Peter’s, Rome, the rite   
   followed is governed by age-old rubrics. When the ceremony takes place   
   in some other country, however, it is likely to be modified according   
   to the customs of that land.   
      
   An illustration: the beatification of Peter To Rot on January 17,   
   1995. He was the first native “blessed” of the nation of Papua New   
   Guinea (a member of the British Commonwealth in Oceania, half-a-world   
   away from Rome).   
      
   The papal Mass took place in a stadium at Port Moresby, the nation’s   
   capital. Heading the entrance procession were Tolai warriors carrying   
   spears. Peter’s relics were borne in to be deposited near the altar in   
   a hut made of banana leaves. Following the relics to this destination   
   was the martyr’s 49-year-old daughter, her face painted white, the   
   traditional Papuan symbol of mourning. The Pope, of course, came at   
   the end of the march, but in a humbler version of the “popemobile.” He   
   rode under a yellow canopy on the back of a white pickup truck. As the   
   truck circled the field, he was greeted at intervals by bare-chested   
   dancers from three national ethnic groups. The only European-like   
   touch was the uniformed brass band of the Port Moresby Police.   
      
   Despite the quaint adaptations made in his rite of beatification, Bl.   
   Peter To Rot was a martyr in the grand tradition. As the Pope said in   
   homily, “Martyrdom has always been a part of the pilgrimage of the   
   people of God.”   
      
   Who was this man from Papua New Guinea whom we now welcome to the   
   church calendar?   
      
   Peter was a lay catechist: a married man and a father engaged in   
   teaching the faith and assisting the priests. According to his   
   biographer, he and his wife Paula, in the early years of their   
   marriage, had the usual matrimonial disagreements. Paula, who died in   
   1993, frankly admitted that he had even given her a “solid beating.”   
   But she hastened to say that this was only once; and she blamed   
   herself for it because she had been notional and uncooperative.   
      
   As the years passed the couple grew in grace. They nourished their   
   strong mutual love by praying together each dawn and dusk. Peter was   
   most conscientious about his church duties. He studied doctrine   
   carefully, and when he failed to understand something he sought the   
   advice of the “big holy men.” He was, said the Pope, “a loving father   
   and a dedicated catechist, known for his kindness, gentleness and   
   compassion.”   
      
   Early in World War II, the Japanese seized control of much of Papua   
   New Guinea, especially the large island of New Britain where Peter   
   lived and worked. They imprisoned all the priests, so the catechist   
   had to try to substitute for them as best he could, not only by   
   visiting the sick but by witnessing marriages and conferring baptism.   
   Eventually, the invaders called a halt to all his church work.   
   Becoming increasingly oppressive, they issued laws legalizing   
   polygamy, and even sought to encourage men to take plural wives.   
      
   Shocked at this threat to the whole Christian concept of marriage and   
   matrimonial fidelity, Peter felt obliged to condemn as immoral the   
   Japanese laws regarding marriage. For his courageous stance, To Rot   
   was torn away from his pregnant wife and his children and clapped into   
   a concentration camp. Because he would not accept the laws, he was   
   condemned to death and executed by a lethal injection. The manner of   
   execution was modern and “scientific”; but Peter died for the same   
   cause that St. John the Baptist had died – the sanctity of marriage.   
      
   At the beatification the people sang a hymn to Blessed Peter composed   
   for the occasion. The text, in Pidgin English (a trade language widely   
   used in the South Pacific) hailed him: “Yu strong na yu tru.” By his   
   supreme sacrifice, Peter had more than compensated for the faults of   
   his youth. He was indeed “strong and true.”   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Bible Quote   
   Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being. Do it for the Lord   
   .[Colossians 3:23]   
      
   REFLECTION -“We do not cease praying so long as we continue to do   
   good. The prayer of the heart and of good deeds has more value than   
   the prayer of the lips.”   
   --St Augustine   
      
   <><><><>   
   PRAYER   
   – Dear God, move me to make a morning offering to You with total   
   sincerity each day and then grant that all my deeds may be a devout   
   continuation of that prayer. Open my eyes to those who need me in any   
   way, let me see as You do and do as You do. Blessed Peter To Rot, you   
   never failed to help each and every person in whatever way you could,   
   you defended the Church and the Faith and your neighbour, please pray   
   for us all, amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)