From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Royal Road of the Holy Cross  (4)   
      
    Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross   
   everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward   
   peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where   
   you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a   
   less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange   
   and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you   
   will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or   
   unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.   
   --Thomas à Kempis ---Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 12   
      
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   July 10th - Forty-five Martyrs of the Armenian City of Nicopolis   
      
   They suffered during the reign of the emperor Licinius (311-324), then   
   a co-regent with Constantine the Great. Licinius fiercely persecuted   
   Christians and in his Eastern half of the Empire he issued an edict to   
   put to death anyone who would not consent to return to paganism. When   
   the persecutions began at Nicopolis, more than forty of the persecuted   
   of Christ decided to appear voluntarily before their persecutors, to   
   confess openly their faith in the Son of God and accept martyrdom. The   
   holy confessors were headed by Leontius, Mauricius, Daniel, Anthony   
   and Alexander, and were distinguished by their virtuous life. The   
   procurator of the Armenian district, Licius, before whom the holy   
   confessors presented themselves, was amazed at the directness and   
   bravery of those who voluntarily doomed themselves to torture and   
   death. He tried to persuade them to renounce Christ and offer   
   sacrifice to the pagan gods, but the saints remained steadfast. They   
   refuted all the arguments of the governor, pointing out to him all the   
   falseness of faith in the vile and vice-filled pagan gods, leading   
   those that worship them to ruin. The procurator gave orders to beat   
   the confessors about the face with stones, and then shackle and   
   imprison them.   
      
   In prison the saints rejoiced and sang the Psalms of David. St   
   Leontius inspired and encouraged the brethren, preparing them to   
   accept new tortures for the true Faith, and telling them of the   
   bravery of all those formerly that had suffered for Christ. In the   
   morning, after repeated refusals to offer sacrifice to the idols, the   
   saints were again given over to torture. St Leontius, seeing the   
   intense suffering of the martyrs and worrying that some of them might   
   falter and lose faith, prayed to God that there might be a quick end   
   of the matter for all.   
      
   When the holy martyrs sang Psalms at midnight, an angel of the Lord   
   suddenly appeared to them, and the prison blazed with light. The angel   
   declared to the martyrs that their contest was near its end, and their   
   names already were inscribed in Heaven. Two of the prison guards,   
   Meneus and Virilad, saw what was happening and believed in Christ. On   
   the following morning, the governor decided to put the martyrs of   
   Christ to death. After beastly tortures they burned them in a fire,   
   and threw their bones in a river. Pious people found the relics,   
   gathered them up and saved them. Later on, when freedom had been   
   bestown to the Church of Christ, a church was built on this spot in   
   the name of the holy 45 Martyrs .   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is almost certain that excess in eating is the cause of almost all   
   the diseases of the body, but its effects on the soul are even more   
   disastrous.   
   --St. Alphonsus Liguori   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud,   
   and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh   
   shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave   
   them root, nor branch.   
   But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and   
   health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like   
   calves of the herd.  [Mal 4:1-2]   
      
      
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   O Beata Virgo Maria   
   Attributed to St. Augustine   
      
   O Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay thee thy just dues of   
   praise and thanksgiving, thou who by the wondrous assent of thy will   
   didst rescue a fallen world? What songs of praise can our weak human   
   nature recite in thy honor, since it is by thy intervention alone that   
   it has found the way to restoration? Accept, then, such poor thanks as   
   we have here to offer, though they be unequal to thy merits; and,   
   receiving our vows, obtain by thy prayers the remission of our   
   offenses. Carry thou our prayers within the sanctuary of the Heavenly   
   audience, and bring forth from it the antidote of our reconciliation.   
   May the sins we bring before Almighty God through thee, become   
   pardonable through thee; may what we ask for with sure confidence,   
   through thee be granted. Take our offering, grant us our requests,   
   obtain pardon for what we fear, for thou art the sole hope of sinners.   
   Through thee we hope for the remission of our sins, and in thee, O   
   blessed Lady, is our hope of reward. Holy Mary, succour the miserable,   
   help the faint-hearted, comfort the sorrowful, pray for thy people,   
   plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God; may   
   all who keep thy holy commemoration feel now thy help and protection.   
   Be thou ever ready to assist us when we pray, and bring back to us the   
   answers to our prayers. Make it thy continual care to pray for the   
   people of God, thou who, blessed by God, didst merit to bear the   
   Redeemer of the world, Who liveth and reigneth, world without end.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)