From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Bearing with the Faults of Others  (III)   
      
   We wish to see others severely reprimanded; yet we are unwilling to be   
   corrected ourselves. We wish to restrict the liberty of others, but   
   are not willing to be denied anything ourselves. We wish others to be   
   bound by rules, yet we will not let ourselves be bound. It is amply   
   evident, therefore, that we seldom consider our neighbour in the same   
   light as ourselves. Yet, if all men were perfect, what should we have   
   to bear with in others for Christ's sake?   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 16   
      
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   October 8th - St. Thais   
   (4th Century?)   
      
   When a saint is canonized today, his or her historical background is   
   first thoroughly investigated. Centuries ago, when it was local   
   bishops who approved the cult of saintly people, the approach was not   
   so scientific. Thus certain persons came to be popularly venerated as   
   saints about whose holiness or even whose existence there have since   
   been some doubts.   
      
   The traditional story of the conversion of Thais is nevertheless   
   fascinating and deserves to be recounted. Thais, the legend tells us,   
   lived in Egypt in the 4th century. She had been brought up a   
   Christian, but had foregone all standards of Christian morality,   
   shrewdly selling her physical charms, and becoming a woman of wealth   
   and notoriety.   
      
   Now, this was also the century when Egypt was experiencing its   
   monastic revolution. Thousands of Christian men and women were   
   inspired to flee to the deserts and become monks or nuns. One of these   
   leading Egyptian monks decided to see if Thais could be converted from   
   her life of sin to a life of penance. The monk is usually identified   
   as the aged St. Paphnutius; but some versions of the legend call him   
   Serapion; others, Bessarion.   
      
   Paphnutius, runs the story, doffed his religious habit for the time   
   being, and donning secular clothes, went to the city (probably   
   Alexandria) and knocked at the prostitute’s door. When she let him in,   
   he said he wanted to speak to her, but in a more private place.   
      
   “What is it you fear?” she said. “If men, no one can see us here; but   
   if you mean God, no place can hide us from His eye.”   
      
   The disguised monk was amazed. “You know that there is a God?”   
      
   “Yes,” she answered, “and I moreover know that Heaven will be the   
   portion of the good and everlasting; Hell, the punishment of the   
   wicked.”   
      
   “Is it possible,” he continued, “that you should know these truths and   
   yet dare to sin and draw so many after you, before Him who knows and   
   will judge all things?” As he continued to speak with the aid of the   
   Holy Spirit, Thais began to see the inconsistency of her situation.   
   She could recite the basics of the Faith, yet her actions contradicted   
   it.   
      
   Finally, she broke down in tears. Throwing herself on her knees, she   
   begged him, “Father, tell me what to do.” He told her he would return.   
   Meanwhile, she promised to rid herself of her possessions. She   
   hastened to take out into the public square her furniture, jewels, and   
   other items acquired by sin. After inviting all who had given her   
   these presents to join her in penance, she set fire to the pile. Then   
   she hastened to the place of meeting designated by Paphnutius.   
      
   Paphnutius took her to a monastery of nuns. There he prescribed a   
   stringent penance. She was to be locked into a sealed cell and be   
   given only bread and water. For prayers, he directed that she simply   
   face the east and repeat, again and again, the petition “Thou who hast   
   created me, have pity on me.”   
      
   It was a painful assignment, but Thais accepted it in good grace, and   
   mourned her way to holiness. After three years, Paphnutius, having   
   consulted with other monastic leaders, released her. “God,” he now   
   assured her, “has blotted out your sins.” Thais then went to join the   
   rest of the nuns who lived the community life, but God took her to   
   Himself two weeks later.   
      
   Catholic scholars are inclined today to consider the story of Thais,   
   whatever her actual history, more fiction than fact, and to be   
   repelled by the mode of penance imposed on her, however obediently   
   accepted.   
      
   However, whether parable or fact, or a little of both, the tale of St.   
   Thais simply restates, does it now, the doctrine of the infinite mercy   
   that God is ready to show to His prodigal sons and daughters.   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Reflection.   
   The knowledge of God is for all, but hidden treasures are reserved for   
   those who have ever followed the Lamb.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in God's presence,   
   always ready to give Him an account of all his actions, shall never be   
   separated from Him by consenting to sin.   
   -- Saint Thomas Aquinas   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer:   
   O God, Whose bounty is infinite and Whose mercies are proportioned to   
   our miseries, permit us not to be so ungrateful as to forget Thy   
   benefits, nor so unfaithful as to become unworthy of Thy graces. We   
   acknowledge that we deserve only to be abandoned by Thee, we merit but   
   Thy hatred and eternal torments; but we conjure Thee, O Saviour, not   
   to deal with us according to our deserts, but according to the   
   multitude of Thy tender mercies, which Thou art ever desirous of   
   imparting to us. Amen.   
   --Thomas à Kempis, From the Imitation of Christ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)