From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    "Insatiably thou wilt be satiated with truth."   
      
   Truly, the depth of our will is such that only God, seen face to face,   
   can fill that depth and draw the soul irresistibly. The depth which   
   the soul has by its very nature is augmented by infused hope and   
   charity, which widen, as it were, our heart, increase its capacity to   
   love, and arouse in us aspirations higher than all natural   
   aspirations, even the most intimate and elevated. St. Augustine speaks   
   thus: "God is the goal of our desires, He is the one whom we shall see   
   without end, whom we shall love without weariness, whom we shall   
   glorify forever without fatigue." [De civ. --St. Augustine--Dei, Bk.   
   II, chap. 30, no. 1 553]   
      
   553.  This is one of the most beautiful definitions of heaven and   
   beatitude that was ever pronounced. We know none that is more perfect.   
   Cf. Sermo 362, 29: "Insatiably thou wilt be satiated with truth."   
      
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   May 4th - St. Florian of Austria, Martyr   
   d. 304   
      
   The several persecutions undertaken by Roman emperors from the first   
   to the early 4th century varied in duration and intensity. Indeed, for   
   long periods in the first 3 centuries, the Church was able to grow   
   without molestation. However, under Emperor Diocletian and his   
   associated rulers, the Roman Empire undertook a vast, organized   
   assault against Christianity that could best be described as an   
   all-out war (302-312).   
      
   Diocletian was an able administrator and basically a kindly man. But   
   in the earliest years of the fourth century his huge empire was   
   becoming unmanageable due to constant inroads of barbarian armies   
   against its northern borders. Therefore he appointed as co-emperors   
   Maximinus and Constantius Chlorus in the West; and chose to assist him   
   in the East, Co-emperor Galerius. Galerius, under constant pressure   
   from his fanatical pagan mother, considered Christians as the real   
   enemies of the Roman Empire. Consequently he sought to entrap   
   Diocletian into proceeding against them initially by urging that all   
   soldiers guarding the borders, especially in the Danube provinces, be   
   forced to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods, on the pretext of   
   strengthening military discipline. Once he had won over the old   
   emperor, that ruler, who had a totalitarian mentality, authorized a   
   persecution in which every Christian in the Empire was at risk, and   
   literally thousands actually suffered.   
      
   Diocletian issued his initial decree of discrimination in the year   
   302. The Christians in the armed forces were the first to feel the   
   turn of the screw.   
      
   One such Christian soldier was an officer named Florian. Whatever his   
   ethnic origin, he occupied a high administrative post in the province   
   of Noricum, which is now a part of Austria. When news of the decree   
   commanding such military men to offer sacrifice reached him, Florian   
   saw at once that he could not accept such an order. Therefore he went   
   to Lorch (now St. Lorenz) in the province of Noricum and turned   
   himself in to the Roman military authorities serving there under   
   Aquilinus.   
      
   Turned himself in: that is, he confessed his Christianity and refused   
   point blank to offer the required sacrifice, come what might. The   
   record of the trial of this soldierly man is not detailed, but the way   
   he was treated indicates the price he had to pay for his staunch   
   faith. He was scourged twice, and much of his skin was torn off,   
   evidently in a futile effort to make him change his mind. Since his   
   faith was firm, he was finally thrown into the River Enns with a   
   millstone tied about his neck and drowned in this tributary of the   
   Danube.   
      
   Fortunately, a pious woman recovered the martyr’s body and gave it   
   proper burial. In due time Florian’s remains were disinterred and   
   enshrined near Linz, Austria, in what became the famous Augustinian   
   monastery of St. Florian.   
      
   At least part of his relics were sent to Rome in the 12th century, for   
   in 1138 Pope Lucius III is reported to have given a portion of them to   
   King Casimir of Poland and to the Polish bishop of Cracow.   
      
   Even if the information about St. Florian’s origins, martyrdom and   
   early veneration are skimpy, his basic story is confirmed by the   
   devotion that sprang up around his relics. He is invoked as heavenly   
   patron not only of Linz but of all Upper Austria. And after the   
   translation of a part of his relics to Poland, the Roman soldier   
   became the welcome object of devotion in that country as well.   
      
   Early in the history of Christian devotion, the custom arose of   
   identifying saints in their pictures or statues by some easily   
   recognizable symbol. Sometimes the symbol was chosen from the   
   legendary rather than the historical lore of the individual. Images of   
   St. Florian of Lorch usually represent the soldier clothed in Roman   
   military armor. Sometimes he is further identified by a millstone like   
   the one hung about his neck. More often, however, he is shown putting   
   out a fire by pouring water on it. It seems that among the miracles   
   attributed to him was that of extinguishing the flames of a burning   
   city with a single bucket of water. Whatever the circumstances of the   
   miracle were, it made a firefighter out of him.   
      
   Florian is one of the 8 patron saints of Austria and the patron of   
   Upper Austria and of Linz. He also holds patronage of Poland, brewers,   
   coopers, chimney-sweeps, and soap-boilers (Roeder, Tabor). He is   
   invoked against bad harvests, battles, fire, flood, and storm   
   (Roeder). He is also the patron of those in danger from water and   
   flood, and of drowning (White).   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The Word who became all things for us is close to us, our Lord Jesus   
   Christ who promises to remain with us always. He cries out, saying:   
   See, I am with you all the days of this age. He is himself the   
   shepherd, the high priest, the way and the door, and has become all   
   things at once for us.   
   -- Saint Athanasius the Great   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
    "So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as   
   Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, we too   
   should begin living a new life."  [Romans 6:4]   
      
   "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with   
   thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."  Philippians 4:6   
      
      
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   Morning Offering   
   By St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716)   
      
   My God,   
   just as I wish to love   
   nothing more than You,   
   so I wish to live,   
   only for You.   
   I offer You   
   all my thoughts,   
   all my words,   
   all my actions   
   and all my sufferings of this day;   
   please bestow   
   Your holy blessing,   
   upon them all.   
   Amen    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)