From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Comforter is with us in our troubles   
      
   "He is called the Comforter because he comforts and encourages us and   
   helps our infirmities. We do not know what we should pray for as we   
   should, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us, with   
   groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26), that is, he makes   
   intercession to God. Very often, someone has been outraged and   
   dishonored unjustly for the sake of Christ. Martyrdom is at hand;   
   tortures on every side, and fire, and sword, and savage beasts and the   
   pit. But the Holy Spirit softly whispers to him, 'Wait on the Lord'   
   (Psalm 27:14). What is now happening to you is a small matter; the   
   reward will be great. Suffer a little while, and you will be with   
   angels forever. 'The sufferings of this present time are not worth   
   comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us' (Romans 8:18). He   
   portrays to the person the kingdom of heaven. He gives him a glimpse   
   of the paradise of delight."   
      by Cyril of Jerusalem, 430-543 A.D.(excerpt from CATECHETICAL LECTURES   
   16.20)   
      
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   October 12th - SS. Felix and Cyprian and many other Martyrs   
   d. 484   
      
   The second entry in the Roman Martyrology today runs: “In Africa, the   
   passion of 4966 holy confessors and martyrs in the Vandal persecution   
   under the Arian king, Huneric, some of whom were bishops of the   
   churches of God and some priests and deacons, with the multitudes of   
   the faithful associated with them. They were driven into exile in a   
   horrible desert for defending Catholic truth. Many of them were   
   cruelly treated by the Moors, being compelled to run by the points of   
   spears and struck with stones; others were dragged like corpses, with   
   their legs tied together, over rough and stony ground, and torn limb   
   from limb; all of them, being tortured in various ways, at the last   
   achieved martyrdom. Among them were those distinguished priests of the   
   Lord, the bishops Felix and Cyprian.” Victor of Vita, an African   
   bishop who was contemporary and an eyewitness describe the persecution   
   of orthodox Christians by the Arian Vandals thus summarized at length.   
      
   Huneric exiled them by hundreds into the Libyan desert, where they   
   perished under conditions of the greatest barbarity. Numbers were   
   concentrated in a small building, where Bishop Victor, who found   
   prisoners and prison in a state reminiscent of the “black hole” of   
   Calcutta, visited them. When at length the order was brought to lead   
   the Catholics into the wilderness, they came out singing psalms and   
   amid the lamentations of their fellow-Christians. Some even, including   
   women and children, voluntarily followed the confessors to exile and   
   death. St Felix, the bishop of Abbir, was very old and half paralysed,   
   and it was represented to Huneric that he might just as well be left   
   to die at home. But the brutal king replied that if he could not ride   
   a horse he could be tied to a yoke of oxen and dragged. Eventually the   
   old man made the terrible journey tied across the back of a mule. Many   
   even of the young and strong did not reach their destination:  stones   
   were thrown at them and they were pricked with spears to make them   
   keep up, till they collapsed by the wayside and perished of thirst and   
   exhaustion. St Cyprian, another bishop, expended all his time, energy   
   and property in caring for the confessors and encouraging them, till   
   he too was apprehended and sent into banishment, where he died a   
   martyr from the hardships he endured.   
      
   We know, practically speaking, no more of these martyrs than is told   
   us by Victor of Vita. His text is quoted and discussed in the Acta   
   Sanctorum, October, vol. vi. It is curious that no identifiable notice   
   of the group seems to occur in the ancient calendar of Carthage or in   
   the “Hieronymianum”.   
      
      
   Reflection: The Saints fasted, toiled, and wept, not only for love of   
   God, but in fear of damnation. How shall we, with our self-indulgent   
   lives and unexamined consciences, face the judgment-seat of Christ?   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both   
   sides of death always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and   
   afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of   
   divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue   
   in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and   
   sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy.   
   -- Saint Cyprian of Carthage   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    Let us not grow tired in doing good; for in due time we shall reap if   
   we do not lose heart.  (Gal. 6:9)   
      
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   Prayer--Goffine's Devout Instructions   
      
   How lovely, O God, are Thy tabernacles! My soul longeth and fainteth   
   for Thy courts, O living God, Who art the crown and reward of the   
   saints, and repayest their sufferings and sorrows in this world with   
   eternal joy. How blessed are all they who, in this life, have served   
   Thee faithfully! They behold Thee and the Lamb of God face to face;   
   they bear Thy name on their foreheads, and reign with Thee forever. We   
   therefore beseech Thee, O God, through their intercessor, to grant us   
   Thy grace to serve Thee after their example, in sanctity and justice;   
   to follow them in poverty, humility, meekness, repentance, in ardent   
   longing for all virtues, in peace-making and patience, and one day,   
   like them, to share in the joys of heaven. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)