- Jeremiah 33:3 -
- From: "Traudel" <hildegard8@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:56:29 -0600
- Jeremiah 33:3 -
'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable
things you do not know.' I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties
to make me strong.
___________________________________________________________-
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for prosperity and God gave me brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted.
I received everything I needed.
<<>><<>><<>>
January 2nd - Saint Macarius Of Alexandria, Hermit
(d. 394)
Saint Macarius when a youth left his fruit-stall at Alexandria to join the
great Saint Anthony; that patriarch, advised by a miracle of his disciple's
sanctity, named him the heir to his virtues. For a time he remained in the
Thebaid with his fellow hermits, but later he went to the desert of Scete.
He had a cell there and others in two distinct places, but his principal
dwelling place was the desert of the Cells. All of these cells were for him
a source of mortification, being without window, or too short for him to lie
down.
The life of this solitary was one long conflict with himself and with the
demons. "I am tormenting my tormentor," he replied to a hermit who met him
in the heat of the day, bent double with a basket of sand. "Whenever I am
slothful and idle, I am pestered by desires for distant travel." When he was
quite worn out he returned to his cell. Since sleep at times overpowered
him, he kept watch standing for twenty days and nights; then, being about to
faint, he entered his cell and slept, but thereafter slept only at will.
When for six months the demons tormented him with temptations, he would go
to a marsh and remain naked in the water until his body was covered with
noxious insect bites and boils, and he was recognized only by his voice.
Once, when being thirsty he received a present of grapes, he passed them
untouched to a hermit who was toiling in the heat. This one gave them to a
third, who handed them to a fourth; in this way the grapes went the round of
the desert and finally returned to Macarius, who thanked God for his
brethren's self-denial.
Macarius saw demons assailing the hermits at prayer. They put their fingers
into the mouths of some and made them yawn. They closed the eyes of others,
and walked upon them with contempt when they fell asleep. They placed vain
and sensual images before many of the brethren, and then mocked those who
were captivated by them. None vanquished the devils effectively save those
who by constant vigilance repelled them at once. He called some of the
solitaries to come to him and asked them if they had not thought about
buildings, journeys or other such things. They acknowledged their fault,
seeing he had perceived the vain thoughts which distract souls during
prayer, caused by the illusion of the devils, and which the vigilant reject
as foreign to their purpose.
After being many years Superior, Macarius, desiring humiliation and
spiritual progress, fled in disguise to Saint Pachomius to begin religious
life over again as his novice. Soon the brethren were going to their
Superior to tell them of the extraordinary mortifications of the newcomer.
Saint Pachomius prayed, and then, instructed by a vision, addressed Macarius
by his name, saying he had long wanted to know him. And he thanked him for
having given such excellent examples to his religious. Then he bade him
return to his former brethren in religion, who loved him as their father, to
pray for Pachomius' monks as well.
At the age of seventy-three, Saint Macarius was driven into exile and
brutally outraged by Arian heretics. He died in the year 394.
Reflection. Prayer is the breath of the soul. But Saint Macarius teaches us
that both mind and body must be brought to subjection before the soul is
free to pray efficaciously.
Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin
(Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 1; Little Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Livesof the Saints and other sources
by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
Saint Quote:
People who keep themselves low in their own estimation and love to be
considered of little account and despised by others please God in the
highest degree.
-St. Thomas a Kempis
Bible Quote
13. And they brought to him young children, that he might touch them. And
the disciples rebuked them that brought them. 14. Whom when Jesus saw, he
was much displeased, and saith to them: Suffer the little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15. Amen I
say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child, shall not enter into it. (Mark 10:13-15)
<><><><>
Litany of January Saints
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy, Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, King of glory, to whom the noblest of kings bowed their knees
to Thee, have mercy on us
O Most Holy Name of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us.
St. Gaspar del Bufalo, Holy Confessor *
St. Genevieve, Holy Virgin *
St. Priscus, Holy Martyr* Pope St. Telesphorus, Holy Martyr *
St. Balthasar, Holy King *
St. Gaspar, Holy King *
St. Melchior, Holy King *
St. Lucian of Antioch, Holy Martyr *
St. Apollinaris, Holy Bishop and Confessor *
St. Severin, Holy Bishop *
St. Adrian of Canterbury, Holy Abbott *
St. William of Bourges, Holy Bishop *
St. Nicanor, Holy Deacon *
St. John Camillus Bonus, Holy Bishop *
O Most Holy Family, *
Pope St. Hyginus, Holy Martyr *
St. Paulinus, Holy Bishop *
St. Theodosius, Holy Abbot *
St. Arcadius, Holy Martyr *
St. Benedict Biscup, Holy Abbot *
St. Aelred, Holy Abbot *
St. John the Baptist, Baptizer of the Lord *
St. Hilary of Poitiers, Holy Bishop and Doctor of the Church *
St. Felix, Holy Priest and Martyr *
St. Sava, Holy Bishop and Patron of the Serbs *
St. Paul the First Hermit of the Church *
St. Maurus, First Disciple of St. Benedict *
St. Ida (Ita), Holy Virgin *
Holy Mary, Our Lady of Prompt Succor *
Holy Mary, Our Lady of Refuge *
Pope St. Marcellus, Holy Martyr *
St. Antony, Holy Abbot *
St. Peter, Holy First Keeper of the Keys *
St. Prisca, Holy Virgin and Martyr *
St. Volusian, Holy Bishop *
St. Marius, Holy Martyr, Husband and Father *
St. Martha, Holy Martyr, Wife and Mother *
St. Audifax, Holy Martyr, Son of Marius and Martha *
St. Abachum, Holy Martyr, Son of Marius and Martha *
St. Canute, Holy King of Denmark *
St. Wulstan, Holy Bishop *
Pope St. Fabian, Holy Martyr *
St. Sebastian, Holy Martyr and Patron of Athletes *
St. Agnes, Holy Virgin and Martyr, Patron of the Children of Mary *
St. Vincent of Saragossa, Holy Deacon and Martyr *
St. Anastasius, Holy Monk and Martyr *
St. Raymond of Penafort, Holy Priest and Patron of Canon Lawyers *
St. Emerentiana, Holy Virgin, Martyr, and sister of St. Agnes *
St. Ildefonsus, Holy Bishop *
St. Timothy, Holy Bishop, Disciple and Martyr, Patron against stomach
disorders *
St. Paul, Holy Apostle of the Gentiles and Martyr *
St. Polycarp, Holy Bishop and Martyr *
St. Paula, Holy Widow and assistant to St. Jerome *
St. John Chrysostom, Holy Bishop and Doctor of the Church *
St. Angela Merici, Holy Virgin *
St. Peter Nolasco, Holy Religious Founder Of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom
*
St. Agnes, Obedient and pure holy lamb to the Lamb of God *
St. Francis de Sales, Holy Bishop and Doctor of the Church, and Patron of
the Catholic Press *
St. Gildas the Wise, Holy Abbot *
St. Martina, Holy Virgin and Martyr *
St. Bathildis, Holy Widow *
St. John Bosco, Holy Confessor, Priest and Religious Founder, and Patron of
Editors *
All you holy saints and angels, pray for us.
* pray for us
.
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