From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Contempt for Worldly Honors  [I]   
      
   CHRIST.   
    My son, do not be discouraged if you see others given honors and   
   advancement, while you are overlooked and humiliated. Life up your   
   heart to Me in Heaven, and the contempt of men will not trouble you.   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    Lord, we are blind and are easily deceived through vanity. If I   
   carefully examine my life, I find that no creature has ever done me   
   wrong and I have no right to complain.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 41   
      
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   June 2nd - Blessed Sadoc of Sandomierz   
   Also known as   
   Sadoch   
   Zadoc   
   Zadok   
      
   Died 1260; second feast day on May 5. Saint Dominic's dreams of   
   converting the Tartars found realization in his sons. Missionaries   
   did, in fact, go to the North during his lifetime, and many more were   
   sent out by Blessed Jordan of Saxony. The more settled tribes of   
   Poland and Hungary readily accepted the Gospel, and the North was not   
   long in blooming with Dominican convents. But, in the 13th century,   
   the restless millions of the East were riding down upon the fertile   
   plains of Central Europe. Wild Tartar tribes soon destroyed what had   
   been done for their more peaceful relatives, and scarcely a missionary   
   survived to preach his message of peace to them.   
      
   Paul of Hungary and his band of 90 died as martyrs, probably in 1241.   
   They were popularly honored as saints early. Soon to follow was the   
   group headed by Blessed Sadoc, which had its headquarters at Sandomir,   
   Poland. So tragic was the early history of the Dominicans in Poland   
   that, even in that martyred country, it is remembered: Polish   
   Dominicans today wear a red cincture to recall the martyred hundreds   
   who shed their blood that Poland might receive the light of faith.   
      
   Blessed Sadoc was a student at the University of Bologna when he met   
   Saint Dominic and was received into the order. Being a Slav himself,   
   he was eager to go to the North to preach the word of God. This he was   
   given a chance to do when he and Paul of Hungary were placed in charge   
   of the northern mission band.   
      
   Sadoc soon accumulated a number of eager young students and novices,   
   and proceeded to Poland with them. On his first night in the mission   
   field, the devil appeared to Sadoc and reproached him for disturbing   
   his work: "And with such children as these," he said bitterly,   
   pointing to the young novices. With such as these, Sadoc did make   
   havoc with the kingdom of evil: He won many souls to God, and, in the   
   monastery of Sandomir which he founded, Sadoc soon had the   
   satisfaction of seeing a large community working for the glory of God.   
      
   In 1260, the Tartars made a fresh invasion into Poland and attacked   
   Sandomir. Blessed Sadoc and his community had assembled for midnight   
   Matins when they received warning of their approaching death. A novice   
   reading the martyrology for the following day, was amazed to see,   
   lettered in gold across the pages of the martyrology, the words: "At   
   Sandomir, the passion of 49 martyrs." On investigation, it was   
   discovered that it was not merely a novice's mistake, but an actual   
   warning that they understood came from heaven.   
      
   They spent the day in preparation for death. During the singing of the   
   "Salve Regina," after Compline, the Tartars broke into the church and   
   the slaughter began. One novice, terrified at the thought of death,   
   fled to the choir loft to hide, but, hearing his brothers singing, he   
   realized that they were going off to heaven without him, and he   
   returned to the choir to die with the others.   
      
   From this martyrdom came the custom of singing the "Salve Regina" at   
   the deathbed of a Dominican--priest, sister, or brother. It is fitting   
   that a life dedicated to God and Our Lady should end thus, with the   
   battle-cry "Hail, Holy Queen!" echoing up from this valley of tears to   
   be joined by the voices of Dominicans in heaven, who can now see   
   forever the clement, loving, and sweet Virgin Mary (Benedictines,   
   Dorcy).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is impossible for a person who prays regularly to remain in serious sin;   
   because the two are incompatible, one or the other will have to be given up   
   --St Teresa of Avila   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Let your spirits be renewed so that you can put on the new self that   
   has been created   
   in God's way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:23-24)   
      
      
   Lord Jesus, in the midst of fierce attacks of the foe Blessed Sadoc and his   
   companions greeted the Virgin Mary in song and received the longed-for palm of   
   martyrdom. After this exile may your merciful and loving Mother show us to   
   you, who live and reign    
   in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. – Dominicans   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The fiftieth day   
      
      The name “Pentecost” comes from the Greek word meaning “fiftieth.”   
   Like Easter, it is tied to a Jewish feast. 49 days (7 weeks, or “a   
   week of weeks”) after the second day of Passover, the Jews celebrated   
   the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). Passover celebrates the freeing of the   
   Jews from slavery; Shavuot celebrates their becoming God’s holy people   
   by the gift and acceptance of the Law; and the counting of the days to   
   Shavuot symbolizes their yearning for the Law.   
      From a strictly practical point of view, Shavuot was a very good   
   time for the Holy Spirit to come down and inspire the Apostles to   
   preach to all nations because, being a pilgrimage festival, it was an   
   occasion when Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from many countries.   
   Symbolically, the parallel with the Jews is exact. We are freed from   
   the slavery of death and sin by Easter; with the Apostles, we spend   
   some time as toddlers under the tutelage of the risen Jesus; and when   
   he has left, the Spirit comes down on us and we become a Church.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)