From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Christ bought us   
      
       In saying, "Christ bought us," Paul refers to the price of   
   redemption (cf. 1 Cor 6:20 and 7:23). The Old Testament,   
   Intertestamental literature, the New Testament, and Rabbinic   
   literature see that sin is a debt which the Holiness of God wants to   
   have paid. A comparison given by Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar is helpful:   
   "He [meaning anyone] has committed a transgression. Woe to him. He has   
   tipped the scale to the side of debt for himself and for the world."   
   The sinner takes from one pan of the two-pan scales what he has no   
   right to take: the scale is out of balance. It is the holiness of God   
   that wants it rebalanced. How? If the sinner stole property, he can   
   begin to rebalance by giving the property back; if he stole a   
   pleasure, he can begin to rebalance by giving up some corresponding   
   pleasure.   
       But we keep saying "begins," for even one mortal sin means an   
   infinite imbalance, for the Person offended is infinite. The Father   
   did not have to arrange for this rebalance, but in His holiness, or   
   love of all that is good, He willed to do so. That He could do only by   
   sending a Divine Person, His Son, to become man. A divine Person   
   incarnate could generate an infinite value, to really rebalance the   
   scale. That is what the redemption was. Christ by His horrible   
   sufferings put back into the scales more than all sinners had taken.   
      
   ===========   
   April 12th - St. Zeno of Verona, bishop   
    (Also known as Zenone)   
   (died. C, 372)   
      
   There is a 13th century statue of St. Zeno in the magnificent old   
   Basilica of St. Zeno Major, Verona, Italy, which represents this   
   ancient bishop, enthroned, holding his crosier with his left hand and   
   blessing with his right, smiling as he does so.   
      
   Why the smile? Most saints’ images are serious-faced. Whatever the   
   reason, it makes this able prelate, described by his contemporary St.   
   Ambrose of Milan as “a bishop of holy memory”, seem all the more   
   approachable. Although he ruled a diocese in northern Italy, Zeno was   
   probably of African origin. (If Zeno was indeed African, that does not   
   mean he was a black. The most prominent people along the Mediterranean   
   coast of Africa were usually Caucasian Europeans.)   
      
   St. Zeno apparently became bishop of Verona in 362. What he was like   
   as a bishop, we can gather from snippets of his own writings and from   
   the development of Catholicism in his diocese.   
      
   At his first arrival in Verona, Bishop Zeno found two major problems.   
   First, there were still many pagans in the vicinity. Second, the   
   heresy of Arianism (which denied the divinity of Christ) was   
   widespread. Zeno records that he baptized a large number of pagans   
   each year. He also countered the Arians vigorously and successfully.   
   Thus the number of his diocesans grew so large that he had to build a   
   larger basilica as his cathedral.   
      
   Zeno himself was evidently deeply religious. He trained his priests   
   carefully and treated them in a fatherly style. He founded a convent   
   of vowed virgins, and in this he became a pioneering figure in the   
   Italian development of women’s religious congregations. He strongly   
   opposed abuses that had arisen in connection with religious rites.   
      
   But Zeno’s outstanding trait was his charity. In his own lifestyle he   
   was a poor man, and he successfully inculcated on his people a   
   Christian concern for the needy. Verona thus became a city noted for   
   its generosity. Its citizens opened their homes to the shelterless and   
   anticipated other wants. After 378, when the barbarian Goths conquered   
   Emperor Valens and enslaved many in northern Italy, the inhabitants of   
   Verona came to the rescue, ransoming some, snatching others from   
   death, and freeing still others from hard labor.   
      
   His writings show St. Zeno to have been a good theologian for his   
   times. He not only stoutly defended the dogma of the Trinity; he also   
   insisted that Mary was “ever virgin”: before, during, and after the   
   birth of her Son.   
      
   Reverence for Zeno only increased once he was dead. In 586 Verona was   
   threatened by the flooding of the river Adige. The Veronese crowded   
   into their cathedral, to beg their 8th bishop for miraculous   
   preservation. Their prayers were answered. The flood rose to the   
   height of the windowsills outside, but never broke into the building.   
   The congregation remained inside for 24 hours, and by then the waters   
   had abated.   
      
   St. Zeno is usually pictured holding a fishpole with a fish on the   
   hook. Maybe it is because he was a “fisher of men”. But maybe it was   
   also because he enjoyed fishing for relaxation – a pleasant thought.   
   By the way, this “smiling saint” is also invoked for children who are   
   just learning to speak and talk!   
   –Father Robert   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   How can a man say he believes in Christ if he doesn't do what Christ   
   commanded him to do?   
   --St. Cyprian of Carthage   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   If anyone does not restrain his tongue, that man's religion is vain.   
   (James 1:26)   
      
      
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   O my Jesus ! how do I behold Thee weighed down with sorrow and sadness   
   ! Ah, too much reason hast Thou to think that while Thou dost suffer   
   even to die of anguish upon this wood, there are yet so few souls that   
   have the heart to love Thee! O my God! how many hearts are there at   
   the present moment, even among those that are consecrated to Thee, who   
   either love Thee not, or love Thee not enough! O beautiful flame of   
   love, thou that didst consume the life of a God upon the cross, oh,   
   consume me too; consume all the disorderly affections which live in my   
   heart, and make me live burning and sighing only for that loving Lord   
   of mine, who, for love of me, was willing to end his life, consumed by   
   torments, upon a gibbet of ignominy! O my beloved Jesus! I wish ever   
   to love Thee, and Thee alone, alone ; my only wish is to love my love,   
   my God, my all.   
   --From The Passion And Death Of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori:   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)