From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   And thank Thee for the angels   
      
   O Lord, permit us here to raise our voice;   
   And waft before Thy throne our feeble praise,   
   And thank Thee for those angels whom Thy choice   
   Hath lent our weakness to direct its ways,   
   And free us from the envious foes that lurk   
   To spoil the beauty of Thy cherished work.   
      
   Ant. O holy Angels, our guardians, defend us in the combat, that we perish   
   not in the dreadful judgement.   
      
   V. In sight of Thy angels I will sing to Thee, my God.   
   R. I will adore at Thy holy temple, and confess to Thy name.   
      
   Prayer:   
      
   O God, Who, with unspeakable providence, hast vouchsafed to appoint Thy   
   holy angels to be our guardians, grant to Thy humble suppliants to be   
   always defended by their protection, and to enjoy their everlasting   
   society, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth,   
   one God, for ever and ever. Amen.   
      
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   September 18th - St. John de Massias, Monk, Visionary   
      
   He was born in Ribera, Spain, to a noble family and was orphaned at a   
   young age. John went to Peru to work on a cattle ranch before entering   
   the Dominicans at Lima as a lay brother, assigned to serve as a   
   doorkeeper, or porter. He was known for his austerities, miracles, and   
   visions. John cared for all the poor of Lima, dying there on September   
   16. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1975 .   
      
   The lessons of his office state that the parents of Bl. John Massias   
   (or Masias) were representatives of noble and ancient families, who   
   “had been deprived of rank and wealth by the various misfortunes of an   
   unreliable world”. He was born at Ribera in Estramadura in 1585 and   
   was left an orphan whilst still young, being looked after by an uncle,   
   who made the boy earn his living as a shepherd. During the long hours   
   when there was nothing particular to do except keep his eyes open John   
   would say his rosary and meditate on the Christian mysteries, and it   
   sometimes appeared that the holy ones were there, visible and talking   
   to him, especially our Lady and St. John the Evangelist. He attributed   
   to an instruction of the last named his sudden decision to go to the   
   Americas, as so many others of his countrymen were then doing. He   
   landed in Peru and got work on a cattle-ranch, where he stopped for   
   over two years and saved a little money with which he made his way to   
   Lima. Here he decided to become a religious and, having given away   
   what was left of his savings, he was accepted as a lay-brother by the   
   Dominicans of St. Mary Magdalen’s.   
      
     Brother John’s austerities exceeded the bounds of prudence, and his   
   prior had to insist on moderation: for he would content himself with   
   one hour of sleep, and that on his knees with his head on the bed, and   
   brought on himself a disease which required a painful and dangerous   
   operation. He was made porter and his lodge soon became the   
   meeting-place for the poor, the sick and the wretched of the city;   
   following the example of his friend Bl. Martin de Porres, he begged   
   alms with which to feed and attend to their mental needs, and   
   accompanied his ministrations with good advice and exhortations to   
   good life and the love of God. Those who were too shy to beg he sought   
   out in their homes, and to save time in begging from door to door he   
   trained the priory donkey to go round by itself and receive in its   
   panniers food and clothing for his beloved poor. Many and remarkable   
   were the miracles attributed to Bl. John Massias, and his death at the   
   age of sixty was mourned by the whole city. He was beatified in 1837.   
      
   On the occasion of the beatification an Italian life, the Dominicans   
   in Rome published Vita del Beato Giovanni Massias. See also Procter,   
   Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 263-274. There is a fuller bibliography   
   in Taurisano, Catalogus Historicus OP.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Avoid evil practices; indeed, preach against them. Hear your bishop,   
   that God may hear you. Work together in harmony,: struggle together,   
   run together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, as   
   stewards, advisors and servants of God. So be patient and gentle with   
   one another, as God is with you.   
   --St. Ignatius of Antioch   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For which cause I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God   
   which is in thee by the imposition of my hands.  For God hath not   
   given us the spirit of fear: but of power and of love and of sobriety.   
   Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me   
   his prisoner: but labour with the gospel, according to the power of   
   God.  (2 Tim 1:6-8) DRB   
      
      
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   On Humility in Conversation [IX]   
      
   Our Lord tells us that by our words we shall be justified and by our   
   words we shall be condemned, and from our words can be clearly seen   
   whether we are humble or proud. The proud man always wants to take the   
   lead in the conversation, and to lay down the law for the benefit of   
   the rest. The humble man is content to be in the background. The proud   
   man is vexed if he is not listened to; the humble man is ready to   
   accept such disregard with peaceful resignation, as a humiliation from   
   the hand of God. Do I on these points exhibit marks of pride or of   
   humility?   
      
   There is in the conversation of the proud an under-current of   
   self-praise. They talk chiefly about themselves and what they have   
   said and done, and in a tone of boastfulness more or less thinly   
   veiled. The humble seem to forget themselves; they consider what is   
   interesting to those to whom they talk, for God's sake they seek to   
   please others rather than themselves. Try and cultivate this humility   
   in conversation. It will make you loved by God and by men.   
      
   We perceive the contrast between humility and pride most clearly when   
   some rebuff is given. See the meekness of the one and the indignation   
   of the other; the patience of the one, and the eagerness of the other   
   to assert himself and prove himself in the right. In this respect we   
   shall do well to contemplate the perfect humility of the Holy Mother   
   of God at the marriage-feast at Cana. In answer to the apparent rebuke   
   that she received from her Son, she uttered not a word of   
   self-justification, but an instruction to the servants to be exact in   
   their obedience to Jesus.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)