From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Abstain and Sustain   
      
      "Two are the commands given us for this life of ours; to abstain   
   and to sustain. To abstain from those things that are considered good   
   by the world, and to sustain the many things that are bad in the   
   world.   
      This requires continence and endurance. Continence means not to   
   rely on worldly happiness. Endurance signifies not to give way to   
   worldly unhappiness."   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon 38, 1   
      
   Prayer: Lord, you are with us. You deliver us from our wretched   
   errors, establish us on your path, and encourage us.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 6, 16   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   7 January – St Raymond of Peñafort OP   
      
    Known as the “Father of Canon Law” – Master of the Order of   
   Preachers, Archbishop, Dominican Priest, Confessor, Evangelist,   
   Missionary, Theologian,Teacher, Philosopher, Lawyer of both Canon and   
   Civil Law, Writer, Spiritual Director and Adviser, Preacher, miracle   
   worker. Born as Raimundo de Peñafort in 1175 at Peñafort, Catalonia,   
   Spain and died on 6 January 1275, aged 100 years old, at Barcelona,   
   Spain of natural causes  . Patronages – attorneys, barristers,   
   lawyers, canon lawyers, medical record librarians, Barcelona, Spain,   
   Navarre, Spain.   
      
   As a lawyer, priest and preacher, St Raymond of Penyafort made a   
   significant mark on the history of Spain and the church. His preaching   
   helped re-Christianise Spain after the Moors were overthrown. And his   
   compilation of papal and conciliar decrees, it was the main source of   
   canon law for seven centuries.   
      
   Raymond of Peñafort was born in Vilafranca del Penedès, a small town   
   near Barcelona, Catalonia, around 1175  . Descended from a noble   
   family with ties to the royal house of Aragon, he was educated in   
   Barcelona and at the University of Bologna, where he received   
   doctorates in both civil and canon law.   
      
   An accomplished lawyer and scholar, Raymond joined the Dominicans at   
   Barcelona in 1222. The 47-year-old novice was assigned to develop a   
   book of case studies for confessors that helped to shape the medieval   
   church’s penitential system. Also a gifted preacher, Raymond had   
   remarkable success evangelising Moors and Jews. And he travelled   
   throughout Spain rejuvenating the spiritual life of Christians that   
   the Moors had enslaved. Among his main themes were spiritual combat   
   and standing firm in trials. Listen to his voice in this letter:   
      
   “The preacher of God’s truth has told us that all who want to live   
   righteously in Christ will suffer persecution. . . . the only   
   exception to this general statement is, I think, the person who either   
   neglects, or does not know how, to live temperately, justly and   
   righteously in this world.   
      
   May you never be numbered among those whose house is peaceful, quiet   
   and free from care, those on whom the Lord’s chastisement does not   
   descend, those who live out their days in prosperity and in the   
   twinkling of an eye will go down to hell.   
      
   Your purity of life, your devotion, deserve and call for a reward,   
   because you are acceptable and pleasing to God, your purity of life   
   must be made purer still, by frequent buffetings, until you attain   
   perfect sincerity of heart. If from time to time you feel the sword   
   falling on you with double or treble force, this also should be seen   
   as sheer joy and the mark of love. The two-edged sword consists in   
   conflict without, fears within. It falls with double or treble force   
   within, when the cunning spirit troubles the depths of your heart with   
   guile and enticements. . . .  The sword falls with double and treble   
   force externally when, without cause, persecution breaks out from   
   within the church, where wounds are more serious, especially when   
   inflicted by friends.   
      
   This is that enviable and blessed cross of Christ . . . the cross in   
   which alone we must make our boast, as Paul, God’s chosen instrument,   
   has told us.”   
      
   In 1230, Pope Gregory IX brought Raymond to Rome as his confessor. The   
   reputation of the saint for juridical science decided the pope to   
   employ Raymond of Peñafort’s talents in re-arranging and codifying the   
   canons of the Church. He had to rewrite and condense decrees that had   
   been multiplying for centuries and which were contained in some twelve   
   or fourteen collections already existing. We learn from a Bull of   
   Gregory IX to the Universities of Paris and Bologna, that many of the   
   decrees in the collections were but repetitions of ones issued before,   
   many contradicted what had been determined in previous decrees and   
   many, on account of their great length, led to endless confusion,   
   while others had never been embodied in any collection and were of   
   uncertain authority.   
      
   The pope announced the new publication in a Bull directed to the   
   doctors and students of Paris and Bologna in 1231 and commanded that   
   the work of St Raymond alone, should be considered authoritative and   
   should alone, be used in the schools. Because they were so well   
   arranged, canonists relied on Raymond’s Decretals until the new   
   codification of 1917.   
      
   When Raymond completed his work, the pope appointed him Archbishop of   
   Tarragona but the saint declined the honour. After declining the   
   appointment of Archbishop, he could not avoid his election as the   
   third general of the Dominicans in 1238. But when he reformed the   
   Dominican rule, he slipped in a clause allowing early retirement of   
   office holders. And he used it to retire in 1240.   
      
   But he continued to work 35 more years, focusing on bringing Jews and   
   Moors to Christ. To equip Catholics for this work, he introduced the   
   study of Hebrew and Arabic among Dominicans and persuaded Thomas   
   Aquinas to write his Summa Contra Gentes as an evangelistic tool.   
   Raymond told his general that ten thousand Moors had been baptised   
   through the efforts of the Dominicans. He died at 100 years of age in   
   1275.   
      
   St Raymond was Canonised by Pope Clement VIII in 1601. He was buried   
   in the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia in Barcelona.   
      
   see   
   https://anastpaul.com/2020/01/   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   “This is that enviable   
   and blessed Cross of Christ . . .   
   the Cross in which alone,   
   we must make our boast,   
   as Paul,   
   God’s chosen instrument,   
   has told us.”   
   --St Raymond of Peñafort   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,   
   and a man of understanding is even-tempered.   
   Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent,   
   and discerning if he holds his tongue. (Proverbs 17:27-28 )   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   From a letter by Saint Raymond   
      
    Look then on Jesus, the author and preserver of faith: in complete   
   sinlessness he suffered, and at the hands of those who were his own,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)