From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Prayer is a fragrant dew   
      
   Prayer is a fragrant dew; but we must pray with a pure heart to feel   
   this dew. There flows from prayer a delicious sweetness, like the   
   juice of very ripe grapes. Prayer disengages our soul from matter; it   
   raises it on high, like the fire that inflates a balloon. The more we   
   pray, the more we wish to pray. Like a fish which at first swims on   
   the surface of the water, and afterward plunges down, and is always   
   going deeper, the soul plunges, dives, and loses itself in the   
   sweetness of conversing with God.   
   -- Ven. Cure d'Ars   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
       • November 25th – St. Mercurius, Martyr   
      
   A Scythian by descent, served as a soldier in the Roman army. The   
   impious emperors Decius (249-251) and Valerian (253-259) issued a   
   decree ordering all Roman citizens to worship the pagan gods, and   
   condemning Christians to torture and death unless they obeyed the   
   decree.   
      
   At that time barbarians attacked the Roman empire, and the emperor   
   Decius went on campaign with a large army. In one of the battles an   
   angel of the Lord appeared to Mercurius in the guise of a nobleman and   
   presented him a sword saying, "Fear not, Mercurius. Go forth bravely   
   against the enemy, and when you are victorious, do not forget the Lord   
   your God." With this sword the holy warrior cut through the ranks of   
   the barbarians. He also killed their king, winning victory for the   
   Romans. The grateful Emperor Decius rewarded St Mercurius for his   
   bravery, and made him commander of the entire army.   
      
   The angel of the Lord appeared again to the holy warrior, who had   
   received great honors and riches, and reminded him by Whom the victory   
   had been given. He also told General Mercurius that he would suffer   
   for Christ, and would receive a crown of victory in His Kingdom.   
   Mercurius recalled that his father Gordian had also confessed the   
   Christian Faith. Although the saint had been baptized, he felt he had   
   not devoted his life to God as his father and grandfather had done.   
   Thus, he was weeping and lamenting when he was summoned before the   
   emperor.   
      
   Decius consulted Mercurius on matters of state, then suggested that   
   they offer sacrifice in the temple of Artemis. Not wishing to do this,   
   the saint returned to his home. He was denounced as a Christian by a   
   nobleman, whose name was Catullus. The emperor would not believe this,   
   however, until he himself had questioned the saint. Openly declaring   
   himself a Christian, Mercurius threw down his military belt and cloak   
   at the emperor's feet, and he repudiated all the honors he had   
   received.   
      
   The angel of the Lord again appeared to St Mercurius in the prison,   
   encouraging him to endure every suffering for Christ. They stretched   
   the holy martyr between four pillars and lit a fire beneath him. They   
   cut his body with knives, and so much blood flowed from his wounds   
   that it extinguished the fire. When they threw him back into the   
   prison nearly dead from his wounds, St Mercurius was healed by the   
   Lord, demonstrating the great power of Christ to the impious pagans.   
   Condemned to death, the saint was deemed worthy of a vision of the   
   Lord, Who promised him a quick release from his sufferings. The Great   
   Martyr Mercurius was beheaded at Caesarea in Cappadocia. His holy body   
   emitted a fragrance like myrrh and incense. Many of the sick were   
   healed at his tomb.   
      
   Even after his death the warrior of Christ performed a soldier's   
   service for the good of the earthly Church.   
   St Basil the Great (January 1) once prayed before an icon of the Most   
   Holy Theotokos, upon which St Mercurius was depicted as a soldier   
   holding a spear. He asked God not to permit the emperor Julian the   
   Apostate (361-363) to return from his war against the Persians and   
   resume his oppression of Christians.   
      
   The image of the holy Great Martyr Mercurius, depicted on the icon   
   beside the image of the Most Holy Theotokos, became invisible. It   
   reappeared later with a bloodied spear. At this very moment Julian the   
   Apostate, on his Persian campaign, was wounded by the spear of an   
   unknown soldier, who immediately disappeared.   
      
   The mortally wounded Julian, as he lay dying, cried out, "Thou hast   
   conquered, O Galilean!"   
   The Most Holy Theotokos, through the prayers of St Basil, had sent St   
   Mercurius to defend the Christians from the apostate Julian. May we   
   also be preserved from God's foes, overcoming them through the prayers   
   and assistance of St Mercurius.   
      
   Fr Delehaye has dealt very fully with the legend of St Mercurius. In   
   his book, Les légendes grecques des saints militaires (1909) he has   
   not only discussed (pp. 91-101) the incidents of this quite unreliable   
   narrative, but in an appendix (pp. 234-258) he has edited the two   
   Greek texts which are of more notable interest. The statement of the   
   pilgrim Theodosius (c. 525) that the martyr Mercurius reposes at   
   Caesarea seems to be the earliest sure attestation we possess of the   
   saint’s real existence. As might be expected from the popularity of   
   his cult in Egypt, we find his name constantly recurring in the   
   Ethiopic synaxaries. Sir E. Wallis Budge’s translation of--these last   
   (4 vols., 1928) has a full index in which the references to St   
   Mercurius are numerous.--Budge has also published a Coptic version of   
   the passio in his Miscellaneous Coptic Texts (1915). See also S.   
   Binon, Essai sur le cycle de St Mercure (1937), and Documents grecs   
   inédits relatifs…(1937).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   On behalf of Christ crucified I tell you: refuse to believe the   
   counsels of the devil, who would hinder your holy and good resolution.   
   Be manly in my sight, and not timorous. Answer God, who calls you to   
   hold and possess the seat of the glorious Shepherd St. Peter, whose   
   vicar you have been. And raise the standard of the holy Cross.   
   --Saint Catherine of Siena to Pope Gregory XI   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they   
   also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail   
   because of Him. Even so, Amen.  (Revelation 1:7)   
      
    "This should scare the hell out of you:   
   Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Agra, Big Media — the Four Corporate   
   Horsemen of the Apocalypse — are now always served by government.   
   Government doesn't serve us. It serves the biggest and the richest,   
   always."   
      -Joseph Z. Karbunkel   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   To the Holy Trinity   
      
   Most Holy Trinity, Your goodness has brought me to the beginning of this day   
   and now I offer it to You with its thoughts, words and actions together with   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)