From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Love God's Creation   
      
   "Suppose a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should   
   love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betrothed who made it for   
   her. Certainly, let her love his gift: but if she should say, 'The   
   ring is enough. I do not want to see his face again,' what would we   
   say of her?   
      
   The pledge is given her by the betrothed just that, in his pledge, he   
   himself may be loved. God, then has given you all these things. Love   
   him who made them."   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon on 1 John 2, 11   
      
   Prayer: Lord, let those who understand, praise you, and let those who   
   understand you not, praise you, too.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 11, 31   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   December 30th - St. Anysia of Salonika, Martyr   
      
   Born in Thessaloniki, Greece; died 304. Anysia's parents were both   
   rich and pious. She herself led a life of unobtrusive prayer, using   
   the money and estates her parents had left her to relieve the poor.   
      
   An ancient legend, dating back to the beginning of the 4th century,   
   tells us that one day a Roman soldier accosted her as she was on her   
   way to a meeting of Christians. When he discovered her faith, he   
   became even more abusive, deciding to make sport with her by dragging   
   her to a temple to make a pagan sacrifice. Anysia resisted. The   
   retiring saint habitually covered her face with a veil, but the   
   soldier ripped it away to peer at her. She struggled all the more and   
   spit in his face. In his rage he drew his sword and thrust it through   
   her, killing the saint immediately.   
      
   It was discreetly and silently that Anysia fell one day on the field   
   of honor of our faith. Only her given name has remained, but she lives   
   forever in the eternal name of God himself. The martyrs are the saints   
   of saints. They are at the very top of the supreme hierarchy. There is   
   no more sumptuous brocade than the red robe of martyrs, for the real   
   letters of nobility are written and sealed in blood. It is enough to   
   have truly suffered a single hour in the flesh, to have truly spilled   
   a pint or two of one's blood, to be able to measure the immense   
   compass, the prodigious significance of the Passion and death of Our   
   Lord and the martyrs who followed him.   
      
   Death itself is nothing. But each of us has the instinctive desire to   
   hold on to life. To wait for death faithfully, prepare oneself for it   
   serenely, face it with indifference, that is a great deal. But to   
   accept, seek out, gladly demand not only death, but also the hideous   
   test of torture, that is still more. For the theologians of a purely   
   scholastic stoicism are not displeased by the sufferings of the body.   
   "It is not death I fear, but dying," said Montaigne. Scorn for the   
   torment of torn flesh, quivering, this is the great miracle, the   
   unbelievable miracle, of the faith and the will of the martyrs. They   
   do not fear death. They do not fear dying.   
      
   Anysia, little martyr of Salonika, replays the eternal drama of   
   innocent weakness overcome by blind brute force. And generally, hardly   
   has the sword been sheathed when remorse, grace, and the frenzy of   
   conversion burn and transport the soul of the powerful. The powerful   
   are overcome by the seemingly weak. "O death, where is your victory? O   
   death, where is your sting?" (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   O Lord, grant us that love which can never die, which will enkindle   
   our lamps but not extinguish them, so that they may shine in us and   
   bring light to others. Most dear Savior, enkindle our lamps that they   
   may shine forever in your temple. May we receive unquenchable light   
   from you so that our darkness will be illuminated and the darkness of   
   the world will be made less. Amen.   
   --Saint Columba   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according   
   to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the   
   resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (1 Peter 1:3) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to our Lord for intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour:   
      
   O Lord, grant unto us Thy grace, we beseech Thee, so as to realize Thine   
   almighty power wrought by the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual   
   Succour. Thy Spirit surrounds us, Thine all-seeing eyes fix upon us, and   
   Thy Divinely Sacred Heart yearns for us, that we may cease to tremble at   
   the smites of the Godless, and no longer shrink from the ridicule of those   
   who serve the Prince of this world. May we take good courage and perform   
   Thy Will in the work that Thou wouldst give us to do in this life, and may   
   Our Lady of Perpetual Succour's intercession lift us above the sufferings   
   we face, leading us finally into Thy heavenly abode. Grant we may come   
   unto Thee, to rest in the peace only Thou dost give, singing Thy praises,   
   and those of Our Lady, for endless Ages. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)