From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The combat has commenced   
      
   The miseries of this present life are the test to which God puts His   
   soldiers; He passes judgment upon them, and classifies them, according   
   to the degree of courage they have shown. Therefore is it, that we all   
   have our share of suffering. The combat has commenced. God is looking   
   on, watching how each of us comports himself. The day is not far off,   
   when the Judge will pass sentence on the merits of each combatant, and   
   award to each one the recompense he has won. Combat now; peace and   
   rest and a crown, then. Happy they who, during these days of   
   probation, have recognized the mighty hand of God in all the trials   
   they have had, and have humbled themselves under its pressure,   
   lovingly and confidingly! Against such Christians, who have been   
   strong in faith, the roaring lion has not been able to prevail. They   
   were sober, they were watchful, during this their pilgrimage. They   
   were fully convinced of this, that everyone has to suffer in the   
   present life; they therefore never sighed and moaned, as though they   
   were the only sufferers; they did not assume the attitude of victims,   
   and call it resignation; but they took each trial as it came, and,   
   without talking to everyone about it, they quietly and joyously   
   united it with the sufferings of Christ. O true Christians! you will   
   be joyous for all eternity, when there will be made the manifestation   
   of that eternal glory in Christ Jesus, which He will pass on to you,   
   that you may share it with Him forever!   
      
   From a sermon by Abbot Prosper Guerange   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   August 14th – Bl. Eberhard of Einsiedeln, Abbot   
   (Also known as Everard)   
      
   d. 958   
      
   Bl. Eberhard was of the ducal family of Swabia and became provost   
   of the cathedral of Strasbourg.  In the year 934 he gave up this   
   dignity and went to the hermitage of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, to   
   join his friend Benno, who had been bishop of Metz.  Benno already   
   had a few followers there and the coming of Eberhard, who enjoyed a   
   wide reputation for spiritual wisdom and holiness, considerably   
   increased their numbers. He therefore devoted his fortune to building   
   a monastery to shelter them and a church wherein they might worship,   
   and after the death of Benno he was recognized as first abbot of the   
   monastery of our Lady of the Hermits.   
      
     In 942 there was a great famine in Alsace, Burgundy and Upper   
   Germany, and Bl. Eberhard and his monks gave a large supply of corn   
   for the relief of the suffering people.  The consecration of the   
   abbey-church of Einsiedeln, which incorporated the hermits' chapel, by   
   our Lord himself, assisted by the four Evangelists, St Peter and St   
   Gregory the Great, is fabled to have taken place in 948, ten years   
   before the death of Bl. Eberhard.  Actually it seems consecrated in   
   that year by St Conrad of Constance and St Ulric of Augsburg.   
   Einsiedeln is still a great place of pilgrimage.   
      
   See O. Ringholz, Geschichte des fürstl. Benediktinerstiftes Einseideln   
   (1904), vol. i, pp. 33-43. R Henggeler, Reliquien der Stiftskirche   
   Einsiedeln (1927), pp. 7 seq.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   'If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin   
   every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in   
   the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end   
   in all our actions but the divine honor.'   
   --St. Charles Borromeo   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    "And as well as this, the Spirit too, comes to help us in our   
   weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the   
   Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be   
   put into words; and he who can see into all hearts knows what the   
   Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God's holy   
   people are always in accordance with the mind of God."  [Romans   
   8:26-27]   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A hymn of praise, to our Blessed Mother:   
      
   Hail, Mother most pure!   
   Hail, Virgin renowned!   
   Hail, Queen with the stars,   
   As a diadem, crowned.   
      
   Above all the angels,   
   In glory untold,   
   Standing next to the King,   
   In a vesture of gold.   
      
   O Mother of mercy!   
   O Star of the wave!   
   O Hope of the guilty!   
   O Light of the grave!   
      
   Through thee may we come,   
   To the haven of rest;   
   And see heaven's King,   
   In the courts of the Blest! Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)