From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God is pleased to dwell in us   
      
    God is pleased to dwell in us,.  "God is not too grand to come, he is   
   not too fussy or shy, he is not too proud--on the contrary he is   
   pleased to come if you do not displease him. Listen to the promise he   
   makes. Listen to him indeed promising with pleasure, not threatening   
   in displeasure, "We shall come to him," he says, "I and the Father."   
   To the one he had earlier called his friend, the one who obeys his   
   precepts, the keeper of his commandment, the lover of God, the lover   
   of his neighbor, he says, "We shall come to him and make our abode   
   with him."   
    by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D (excerpt from Sermon 23,6)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   May 2nd - St. Athanasius   
      
   The young Athanasius, whom the children designated as "bishop",   
   performed the Baptism, precisely repeating the words he heard in   
   church during this sacrament. Patriarch Alexander observed all this   
   from a window. He then commanded that the children and their parents   
   be brought to him. He conversed with them for a long while, and   
   determined that the Baptism performed by the children was done   
   according to the Church order. He acknowledged the Baptism as real and   
   sealed it with the sacrament of Chrismation (sometimes called   
   confirmation is the holy mystery by which a baptized person is granted   
   the gift of the Holy Spirit through anointing with oil). From this   
   moment, the Patriarch looked after the spiritual upbringing of   
   Athanasius and in time brought him into the clergy, at first as a   
   reader, and then he ordained him as a deacon. It was as a deacon that   
   St. Athanasius accompanied Patriarch Alexander to the First Ecumenical   
   Council at Nicaea [1]in the year 325. At the Council, St. Athanasius   
   refuted of the heresy of Arius. His speech met with the approval of   
   the Orthodox Fathers of the Council, but the Arians, those openly and   
   those secretly so, came to hate Athanasius and persecuted him for the   
   rest of his life.   
      
   After the death of holy Patriarch Alexander, St. Athanasius was   
   unanimously chosen as his successor in the See of Alexandria. He   
   refused, accounting himself unworthy, but at the insistence of all the   
   Orthodox populace that it was in agreement, he was consecrated bishop   
   when he was twenty-eight, and installed as the archpastor of the   
   Alexandrian Church. St. Athanasius guided the Church for forty-seven   
   years, and during this time he endured persecution and grief from his   
   antagonists. Several times he was expelled from Alexandria and hid   
   himself from the Arians in desolate places, since they repeatedly   
   tried to kill him. St. Athanasius spent more than 20 years in exile,   
   returned to his flock, and then was banished again. There was a time   
   when he remained as the only Orthodox bishop in the area, a moment   
   when all the other bishops had fallen into heresy. At the false   
   councils of Arian bishops he was deposed as bishop. Despite being   
   persecuted for many years, the saint continued to defend the purity of   
   the Orthodox Faith.   
      
   He wrote countless letters and tracts against the Arian heresy.   
      
   When Julian the Apostate (361-363) began a persecution against   
   Christians, his wrath first fell upon St. Athanasius, whom he   
   considered a great pillar of Orthodoxy. Julian intended to kill the   
   saint in order to strike Christianity a grievous blow, but he soon   
   perished himself. Mortally wounded by an arrow during a battle, he   
   cried out with despair: "You have conquered, O Galilean."   
      
   After Julian's death, St. Athanasius guided the Alexandrian Church for   
   7 years and died in 373, at the age of 76.   
      
   Numerous works of St. Athanasius have been preserved; four Orations   
   against the Arian heresy; also an Epistle to Epictetus, bishop of the   
   Church of Corinth, on the divine and human natures in Jesus Christ;   
   four Epistles to Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis, about the Holy Spirit and   
   His Equality with the Father and the Son, directed against the heresy   
   of Macedonius. Other apologetic works in defense of Orthodoxy have   
   been preserved, among which is the Letter to the emperor Constantius.   
   St. Athanasius wrote commentaries on Holy Scripture, and books of a   
   moral and didactic character, as well as a biography of St. Anthony   
   the Great (January 17), with whom St. Athanasius was very close. St.   
   John Chrysostom advised every Orthodox Christian to read this Life.   
      
   [1]Council of Nicaea   
      
   First Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, held in 325 on the   
   occasion of the heresy of Arius (Arianism). As early as 320 or 321 St.   
   Alexander(Born c. 250; died 326-328/), Bishop of Alexandria, convoked   
   a council at Alexandria at which more than one hundred bishops from   
   Egypt and Libya anathematized Arius. The latter continued to officiate   
   in his church and to recruit followers. Being finally driven out, he   
   went to Palestine and from there to Nicomedia.)   
      
   Comment:   
   Athanasius suffered many trials while he was bishop of Alexandria. He   
   was given the grace to remain strong against what probably seemed at   
   times to be insurmountable opposition. Athanasius lived his office as   
   bishop completely. He defended the true faith for his flock,   
   regardless of the cost to himself. In today’s world we are   
   experiencing this same call to remain true to our faith, no matter   
   what.   
      
   Quote:   
   The hardships Athanasius suffered in exile, hiding, fleeing from place   
   to place remind us of what Paul said of his own life: “[O]n frequent   
   journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from   
   my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in   
   the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil   
   and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and   
   thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And   
   apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my   
   anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:26-28).   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Even a fool, if he will hold his peace, shall be counted wise: and if   
   he close his lips, a man of understanding.   [Proverbs 17:28] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   DEAR JESUS, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I   
   go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and   
   possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only   
   be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me   
   that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence   
   in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only   
   Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you   
   shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)