From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   There are three things...   
      
    There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm,   
   devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer,   
   fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy   
   receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they   
   give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the   
   lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot   
   be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you   
   have nothing.   
      So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your   
   petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close   
   your ear to others you open God's ear to yourself.   
   -- Saint Peter Chrysologus   
      
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   September 26th - Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs   
   (died c. 286)   
      
   Saints Cosmas and Damian were brothers, born in Arabia in the third   
   century, of noble and virtuous parents. Saint Gregory of Tours wrote   
   that they were twins. They studied the sciences in Syria, and became   
   eminent for their skill in medicine. Being Christians and filled with   
   the charity which characterizes our holy religion, they practiced   
   their profession with great application and wonderful success, but   
   never accepted any fee. They were loved and respected by the people   
   for their good offices and their zeal for the Christian faith, which   
   they took every opportunity to propagate.   
      
   When the persecution of Diocletian began to rage, it was impossible   
   for persons of such distinction to remain concealed. They were   
   denounced to the governor of Cilicia, named Lysias, as “Christians who   
   cured various illnesses and delivered possessed persons in the name of   
   the one called Christ; they do not permit others to go to the temple   
   to honor the gods by sacrifices.” The two brothers were apprehended by   
   the order of the governor, and after various preliminary torments were   
   sentenced to be bound hand and foot and thrown into the sea. Their   
   prayer has been conserved: “We rejoice, Lord, to follow the path of   
   Your commandments, as in the midst of immense riches; and even though   
   we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil.”   
   And they recited the 23rd Psalm. The sentence was accomplished, but an   
   Angel untied their bonds and drew them out of the sea. The witnesses   
   of this fact returned to announce to the governor what had happened.   
   They were brought back to Lysias as magicians, and he decided to   
   imprison them until he could decide upon their fate.   
      
   He condemned them to be burnt alive, but they prayed to God to   
   manifest His power, lest His name be blasphemed, and an earthquake   
   moved the fire into the midst of the pagans and spared the martyrs.   
   When the rack also left them unharmed, the prefect swore by his gods   
   he would continue to torture them until they became the food of birds   
   of prey. They were crucified and stoned by the people, but this and   
   still other tortures were ineffectual. They were finally beheaded with   
   three Christian companions.   
      
   Many miracles of healing were credited to the pair after their death,   
   the saints appearing to the sick and either prescribing a medicine for   
   them or effecting a direct cure. Emperor Justinian I attributed   
   recovery from an illness to them and rebuilt a church in   
   Constantinople in their honor. Other churches under their patronage   
   were built in Pamphylia and Cappadocia, provinces of Asia Minor, at   
   Aegeae, Jerusalem, and Rome.   
      
    The "moneyless ones" are still honored today. They are the patron   
   saints of physicians and surgeons. They are likewise the patrons of   
   prescription druggists and apothecaries.   
      
   Source:   
   Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud   
   et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   With those who are perfect and walk with simplicity, there is nothing   
   small and contemptible, if it be a thing that pleases God; for the   
   pleasure of God is the object at which alone they aim, and which is   
   the reason, the measure, and the reward of all their occupations,   
   actions, and plans; and so, in whatever they find this, it is for them   
   a great and important thing.   
   --Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of   
   God dwells in you?  (I Cor. 3:16)   
      
      
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   Covetousness   
      
   "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust   
   doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up   
   for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth   
   corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where   
   your treasure is, there will your heart be also... No man can serve   
   two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or   
   else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve   
   God and mammon" (Matthew 6:19-21, 24).   
      
   "Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right   
   hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the   
   earth" (Colossians 3:1-2).   
      
   "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they   
   increase in riches" (Psalm 73:12).   
      
   "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the   
   word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,   
   choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matthew 13:22).   
      
   "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent" (Proverbs   
   28:20).   
      
   "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some   
   coveted after, they have erred from the faith" (1 Timothy 6:10).   
      
   "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any   
   man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John   
   2:15).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)