From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The authority to heal and make clean belongs to Christ    
      
      "With great fervor before Jesus' knees, the leper pleaded with him   
   (Mark 1:40) with sincere faith. He discerned who Jesus was. He did not   
   state conditionally, 'If you request it of God' or 'If you pray for   
   me.' Rather, he said simply, 'If you will, you can make me clean.' He   
   did not pray, 'Lord, cleanse me.' Rather, he leaves everything to the   
   Lord and makes his own recovery depend entirely on him. Thus he   
   testified that all authority belongs to him. One might ask, 'What if   
   the leper had been mistaken in this assumption?' If he had been   
   mistaken, wouldn't it have been fitting for the Lord to reprove him   
   and set him straight? But did he do this? No. Quite to the contrary,   
   Jesus established and confirmed exactly what he had said."   
   by John Chrysostom (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 25.1)   
      
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   July 6th - Saint Goar of Aquitaine (Latin: Goaris)   
      
   Saint Goar was a priest and hermit of the seventh century. He was   
   offered the position of Bishop of Trier, but prayed to be excused from   
   the position,, He then died of an overwhelming fever. He is noted for   
   his piety, and is revered as a miracle-worker.   
      
   Goar was born in 585 to a noble family in Aquitaine, and was noted for   
   piety even in his youth. When he was finally ordained a priest, he   
   became famous for his forceful preaching. However, Goar wanted to   
   serve God more discreetly, and so traveled abroad to the diocese of   
   Trier in 618 to become a hermit near the town of Oberwesel. Despite   
   his intention to live in solitude and obscurity, his renown for   
   holiness spread all over the country.   
      
   Goar was frequently visited by travelers seeking advice. On one   
   occasion, he was derided by two pilgrims, who told Rusticus, the   
   Bishop of Trier, that the hermit was a hypocrite and did not live true   
   to his vows of poverty and chastity. Goar was called upon by the   
   bishop to defend himself. When Goar appeared to argue his case before   
   Rusticus, legend says that he effected a decisive miracle, by which   
   the hermit proved his innocence; even more, the miracle indicated that   
   Rusticus was guilty of the very same charges of imprudence and   
   lasciviousness. As a result, Sigebert III, King of Austrasia, called   
   Goar to Metz and requested that he fill Rusticus's position in Trier.   
      
   Another version of the story states that Goar was accused of sorcery   
   by Rusticus himself, cleared by Sigebert in Metz, and then, after   
   Rusticus was deposed for his dishonesty, the saint was offered the see   
   of Trier.   
      
   In any case, it is certain that Goar did not want to saddle himself   
   with the responsibilities and pressures of a bishopric, and asked for   
   time to reflect on the decision. Upon returning to Oberwesel, however,   
   he fell ill and died on 6 July 649, having never become bishop.   
      
   The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that "a small church" was dedicated to   
   Goar in 1768 "in the little town on the banks of the Rhine which bears   
   his name (St-Goar)."[It is also reported that Charlemagne built a   
   church over the site of Goar's hermitage. It is around this church   
   that the town of Sankt Goar am Rhein grew on the left bank of the   
   Rhine between Wesel and Boppard.   
      
   A life of Saint Goar (Vita Sancti Goaris) was written in 839 by a   
   monk, Wandalbert of Prüm. This semi-legendary account of Goar's life   
   details various miracles relevant to the life of the saint. The first   
   was the one by which Goar proved Rusticus's unsavory nature. A   
   foundling, recovered in a nearby church, was brought to the saint. The   
   bishop called upon Goar to name the father of the baby as a proof of   
   his innocence. Goar did not fail the test; he named the bishop   
   Rusticus his father, upon which Rusticus was shocked and begged for   
   forgiveness.   
      
   Another miracle explains Goar's depiction as hanging his hat on a   
   sunbeam. When the saint refused Sigebert's invitation to the See of   
   Trier, he threw his cappa over a sunbeam: the garment was suspended   
   "as though the shaft of light were solid." The purpose of this miracle   
   was not merely a display of bravado, but to show that the saint's   
   action in refusing the position was divinely justified.   
      
    He is variously depicted in art as a hermit being given milk by three   
   hinds, as holding a pitcher, with the devil on his shoulder or under   
   his feet, and as holding the church of Saint Goar am Rhein. He is a   
   patron saint of innkeepers, potters, and vine growers.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Virgin Mother of God: may I bind myself to God and to you, serve your   
   own Lord and serve you too, obey your own Son and so obey you. May I   
   worship Him as my Maker and you as the mother of my Maker. May I   
   venerate Him as the Lord of Hosts and you as the handmaid of the Lord.   
   May I adore Him as my God and you as the mother of my God."   
   --Saint Ildefonsus.   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Fight the good fight of faith.  Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto   
   thou art called and be it confessed a good confession before many   
   witnesses. I charge thee before God who quickeneth all things, and   
   before Christ Jesus who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate, a good   
   confession:  (1 Tim. 6:12-13)   
      
      
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   The Precious Blood--Its Name   
      
   Why is the Blood of Jesus called the Precious Blood? Because it was   
   the blood of God Himself, veiled under the form of man; and therefore   
   every drop of it, flowing through His sacred veins, deserved our   
   supreme homage, as being united to His Divinity. Hence we can adore   
   the Precious Blood as we adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and all else   
   that belongs to the Sacred Humanity, with that supreme homage that   
   belongs to God alone.   
      
   We also term it the Precious Blood, inasmuch as it was the Blood of   
   One Who was not only full of grace, but was Himself the source of all   
   grace. The grace that dwelt with Him was infinite, and the grace that   
   manifested itself through the veil of His flesh had no bounds or   
   limits, save those, that the mere fact of His Human Nature carried   
   with it. If, therefore, the blood of the Saints is counted as most   
   precious, if we treasure up a piece of cloth stained with their blood,   
   how much more is the Blood of the King of Saints precious beyond all   
   price?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)