From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How Surrender of Self Brings Freedom of Heart  [I]   
      
   CHRIST.   
    My son, renounce self and you shall find me. (Matt. 16:24) Retain no   
   private choice or personal interest and you will always be the gainer.   
   As soon as you yield yourself unreservedly into My hands, I will grant   
   you even richer graces.   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    How often shall I yield myself and in what way forsake myself, Lord?   
      
   CHRIST.   
   Always and at all times, in small things as well as in great. I make   
   no exceptions, for I desire to have you wholly divested of self:   
   otherwise, unless you are wholly stripped of self-will, how can you be   
   Mine, or I yours? The sooner you do this the better it will be with   
   you and the more completely and sincerely you do it, the better you   
   will please Me and the greater will be your gain.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 37   
      
   ===============   
   August 29th - BB. John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato   
   (13th century)   
      
   Muslims from Mauretania, North Africa, invaded Christian Spain in 711   
   AD, and quickly gained political control of what are now Spain and   
   Portugal (with the exception of four kingdoms across the north:   
   Asturias, Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia). In these Catholic districts   
   the movement arose to drive the Moors out of the whole peninsula. The   
   “Reconquest” was accomplished, but it took a long time--until 1492.   
      
   The Muslim Caliphs (governors) would have preferred to treat the   
   Christians leniently, but in the ninth century they began to bear down   
   on them. Other persecutions followed from time to time over the next   
   six centuries.   
      
   St. Francis of Assisi, who founded the Franciscan order in the 13th   
   century, very much desired the conversion of Muslims to the Christian   
   faith. It was for that mission that he sent to Spain two Italian   
   friars, John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato. When the pair first   
   arrived in the Christian part of Spain, they went to Teruel in Aragon.   
   Here they spent some time preparing themselves for entry into the   
   Muslim part of Spain. Meanwhile, they created a very favorable opinion   
   of themselves among the Spanish Catholics to whom they ministered at   
   Teruel. The Spaniards appreciated not only their ardent preaching, but   
   their poverty and simplicity of life.   
      
   When the two friars decided that they were ready to enter Islamic   
   Spain, they moved south to Valencia, where the Moors were in power. So   
   long as the Franciscans lived quietly at the Valencia Church of the   
   Holy Sepulchre, the government did not molest them. But as soon as   
   they began to preach Christianity in public, the Muslims arrested them   
   and hauled them before the Moorish emir. The emir asked Friars John   
   and Peter why they had come to Valencia. Blessed John frankly   
   confessed that they were there in order to convert the Moors from   
   their errors. The emir thereupon offered them the customary choice:   
   conversion to Islam or death. Of course, they choose to die rather   
   than to apostatize. Therefore, they were condemned to have their heads   
   cut off. The execution took place August 29, 1231, in the garden of   
   the emir’s palace. Before the scimitar descended on their necks, they   
   prayed aloud for the conversion of the ruler who had ordered their   
   death.   
      
   The martyrs’ bodies were brought back reverently to Teruel and   
   miracles were soon attributed to their intercession. Pope Pius VI   
   beatified them in 1783.   
      
   Not long after their deaths, their prayers for the emir were answered.   
   In 1238 Valencia was conquered by James I, King of Aragon, and 50,000   
   Moors were expelled. Subsequent to his surrender, the emir who had   
   slain the two Franciscans became a Christian. On his conversion he   
   gave to the Franciscan order his palace, to be used as a friary.   
   “While I was an unbeliever,” he explained to the Franciscan   
   authorities, “I killed your brethren from Teruel. Here, then, is my   
   house for your disposal, consecrated already by the blood of martyrs.”   
      
   Clearly, his conversion had been complete!   
      
   We know that Jesus promised, “Ask and you shall receive.” And we   
   accept that statement in all faith. Still, it only strengthens our   
   faith when we are permitted to see, every now and then, a great answer   
   to a heartfelt prayer.   
   –Father Robert   
      
   Saint Quote:   
    We ought not, as soon as we leave church, to plunge into business   
   unsuited to church, but as soon as we get home, we should take the   
   Scriptures into our hands, and call our wife and children to join us   
   in putting together what we have heard in church.   
   --John Chrysostom   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Bear ye one another's burdens: and so you shall fulfil the law of   
   Christ. For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is   
   nothing, he deceiveth himself.  [Galatians 6:2-3] DRB   
      
      
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   O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness   
      
   O Christ Jesus,   
   when all is darkness   
   and we feel our weakness   
   and helplessness,   
   give us the sense of Your presence,   
   Your love and Your strength.   
   Help us to have perfect trust   
   in Your protecting love   
   and strengthening power,   
   so that nothing may frighten or worry us,   
   for, living close to You,   
   we shall see Your hand,   
   Your purpose, Your will through all things.   
   Amen   
   --By St Ignatius Loyola   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)