From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Of the Good, Peaceable Man:  (2)   
      
      Direct your zeal, therefore, first upon yourself; then you may with   
   justice exercise it upon those about you. You are well versed in   
   coloring your own actions with excuses which you will not accept from   
   others, though it would be more just to accuse yourself and excuse   
   your brother. If you wish men to bear with you, you must bear with   
   them. Behold, how far you are from true charity and humility which   
   does not know how to be angry with anyone, or to be indignant save   
   only against self!   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 3   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 18th - St. Bruno, Bishop of Segni   
      
   St. Bruno was of the family of the lords of Asti in Piedmont, and born   
   near that city.  He made his studies in the university of Bologna, and   
   was made a canon of Siena.  He was called to Rome and there, in the   
   council of 1079, he defended the doctrine of the Church concerning the   
   Blessed Sacrament against Berengarius of Tours; Pope Gregory VII   
   nominated him bishop of Segni in the following year, Bruno's   
   humbleness prompting him to refuse a cardinalate.   
      
   Bruno served his flock with unwearied zeal; he was a personal friend   
   of St Gregory and entered with fearless enthusiasm into all his   
   projects for the reform of the Church, suffering imprisonment for   
   three months at the hands of Count Ainulf, a partisan of the Emperor   
   Henry IV.  He went with Bl. Urban II into France in 1095, and assisted   
   at the Council of Clermont-Ferrand, and returning into Italy he   
   continued to labour for the sanctification of his flock till, not   
   being able any longer to resist his inclination for solitude and   
   retirement, and still persecuted by Ainulf, he withdrew to Monte   
   Cassino and received the monastic habit.   
      
   The people of Segni demanded him back; but the abbot of Monte Cassino   
   prevailed upon the pope to allow his retreat, but not the resignation   
   of his see.  In 1107 he was elected abbot of the monastery.   
      
   Bruno by his writings laboured to support ecclesiastical discipline   
   and to extirpate simony. This abuse, together with that of lay   
   investiture (Lay investiture was the appointment of bishops, abbots,   
   and other church officials by feudal lords and vassals) to   
   ecclesiastical offices, he looked upon as a main source of the   
   disorders which saddened zealous pastors in the church, by filling the   
   sanctuary with hirelings and by corrupting with avarice and ambition   
   those in whom, above all others, a perfect freedom from earthly things   
   ought to Lay a foundation of the gospel temper and spirit.   
      
   He indeed took it upon himself to rebuke Pope Paschal II, who had been   
   persuaded by the emperor elect, Henry V, to make concessions in the   
   matter of ecclesiastical privileges and investiture in Germany. The   
   pope retorted by ordering Bruno to resign his abbacy and return to his   
   bishopric, and was at once obeyed.   
      
   He continued faithfully in the discharge of his duties and in writing,   
   especially commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, until his death in   
   1123. He was the greatest scriptural commentator of his age, but in   
   theology he maintained the extreme and erroneous view that the   
   sacraments administered by bishops or priests who had been guilty of   
   simony were invalid. Bruno was canonized in 1183.   
      
   There are two lives of Bruno printed in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol.   
   iv, the shorter and earlier being the work of that historically   
   unscrupulous writer Peter the Deacon  but the main facts given above   
   may be trusted.  See B. Gigalski, Bruno Bischof von Segni (1898).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime   
   beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked, out with little   
   wildflowers.   
   --St. Teresa of Lisieux   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. And they by the   
   way side are they that hear; then the devil cometh, and taketh the   
   word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved. Now they   
   upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy:   
   and these have no roots; for they believe for a while, and in time of   
   temptation, they fall away. And that which fell among thorns, are they   
   who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and   
   riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. But that on the   
   good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the   
   word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.  (Luke 8:11-15) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Teach me to Wait   
      
   I know I am impatient, Lord,   
   I want to run ahead;   
   Speak to my heart and make me   
   Willing to be led.   
   You clock is always right, Lord   
   It never does run late;   
   Your schedule can't be hurried   
   So teach me, Lord, to wait.   
      
   Your time is never my time--   
   Oh, make this plain to me   
   And give me patience so to wait   
   And Thy fulfillment see.   
   I see through a glass darkly   
   And in this earthly state   
   I only see impatience,   
   So teach me, Lord, to wait.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)