From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Trusting in the Lord   
      
   "If you put your trust in money, you are paying futile regard to vain   
   things; if you put your trust in high office or some exalted rank in   
   human government, you are paying futile regard to vain things... When   
   you put your trust in all these, either you expire and leave them all   
   behind, or they will crumble while you are still alive, and what you   
   trusted will have let you down...  For my part, I do not put my trust   
   in empty things as they do or pay futile regard to them; I have put my   
   trust in the Lord."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Exposition on the Psalms 31,12)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   September 8th – Pope St. Sergius I   
   687 - 701 AD   
      
   Sergius was a compromise choice for the papacy, an excellent one. The   
   archdeacon Paschal had bribed John, the exarch of Ravenna. The exarch   
   obligingly ordered his minions at Rome to put Paschal in as pope, but   
   a large party supported the archpriest Theodore. Once more, just when   
   things looked bad, the common sense of the majority led to a   
   compromise. Sergius was elected. Theodore at once submitted. Paschal   
   was forced to do so, but he sent to the exarch at Ravenna, promising   
   him a 100 pounds of gold if he would come to Rome and make him pope.   
   The greedy exarch came swiftly, but he was realistic enough to see the   
   folly of overriding the majority. He coolly dropped Paschal and agreed   
   to the choice of Sergius, but he insisted on the payment of the huge   
   sum Paschal had promised. In vain did Sergius and the Romans protest   
   against this outrageous demand. Not until the money was paid did the   
   rapacious exarch allow the consecration of Sergius to take place.   
   Sergius was a Syrian from Antioch. Probably his family had fled from   
   the Moslem invasion, for he was educated at Palermo. He went to Rome,   
   joined the school for sacred music, was ordained priest, and was   
   placed in charge of the Church of St. Susanna. Noted for his devotion   
   to the martyrs, he often said Mass in the catacombs.   
      
   Sergius received much consolation from the West. In 688 Caedwalla, the   
   mighty king of the West Saxons, came a pilgrim to Rome seeking baptism   
   from the Pope. St. Willibrord, an Anglo-Saxon monk, came to seek the   
   Pope's blessing on a mission to the Frisians. Sergius consecrated him   
   bishop and sent him off to fruitful labor among the barbarians. Then   
   too, the old Three Chapters schism finally ended with the submission   
   of the bishop and clergy of Aquileia-Grado.   
      
   From the East came trouble. At Constantinople, Emperor Justinian II   
   decided that since the last two general councils, the fifth and sixth,   
   had issued no disciplinary decrees, he would hold one to supply the   
   deficiency. Justinian's council is, therefore, called the Quinisext   
   (fifth-sixth). It is also called the Trullan Council because it was   
   held in the same domed hall, the Trullus, in which the Sixth   
   Ecumenical Council had been held. The Westerners called it the erratic   
   synod, and with reason. For this gathering of Eastern bishops presumed   
   to issue 102 canons, some of which were quite objectionable, notably   
   the one which stated that Constantinople had the same rights in the   
   Church as Rome. When Pope Sergius refused to confirm these decrees,   
   Justinian acted to force him. He sent Zacharias, captain of the   
   bodyguard, to bring back the decrees signed or the Pope a prisoner. It   
   was to be Constans II and St. Martin over again. But times had   
   changed. The imperial forces in Italy, now more Italian home guards   
   than regulars from the East, refused to cooperate. Indeed, the army   
   from Ravenna marched on Rome to attack not Sergius but Zacharias.   
   Zacharias pleaded with Sergius to save him and when the army of   
   Ravenna approached, the bold captain went to cover under the Pope's   
   bed! Sergius calmed the soldiers, who spared the captain's life but   
   drove him from the city. Since Justinian himself was driven into exile   
   by a rebellion at home, there was nothing he could do about it.   
      
   It was this pious and firm Pope who ordered the beautiful prayer Agnus   
   Dei to be added to the Mass. St. Sergius died, and was buried in St.   
   Peter's on September 8, 701   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Come, my people, enter your chambers,   
       and shut your doors behind you;   
   hide yourselves for a little while   
       until the wrath is past.   
   21 For behold, the Lord is coming forth out of his place   
       to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,   
   and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her,   
       and will no more cover her slain.  (Cf. Isa 26:20-21)   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And   
   how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For   
   behold, the moment that the sound of thy greeting came to my ears, the   
   babe in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who has believed,   
   because the things promised her by the Lord shall be accomplished.   
   --Saint Elisabeth’s reply to the salutation of the Virgin Mary Luke 1:42-45   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Hymn of the Annunciation, and prayer in honor   
   of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary:   
      
   Be still, ye clouds of Heaven!   
   Be silent, Earth!   
   And hear an Angel tell   
   Of Jesus' birth.   
      
   While she, whom Gabriel hails   
   As full of grace,   
   Listens with humble faith   
   In her sweet face.   
      
   Hail Mary! Lo, it rings   
   Through ages on;   
   Hail Mary! It shall sound,   
   Till time is done.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)