When tempted, invoke your angel
- From: "Waldtraud" <richarra@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 11:39:26 -0600
When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are
to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: He trembles and
flees at the sight of your guardian angel.
--Saint John Bosco
- 1 Peter 2:9-10 -
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out
of
darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you
are
the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received
mercy.
_____________________________________________________________________
People often base their self-concept on their accomplishments. But our
relationship with Christ is far more important than our jobs, successes,
wealth
or knowledge. We have been chosen by God as his very own, and have been
called
to represent him to others. Remember that your values come from being one of
God's children, not from what you can achieve. You have worth because of
what
God does, not because of what you do.
<<>><<>><<>>
February 7th - St. Luke the Younger (AC)
(also known as Luke Thaumaturgus or the Wonder-worker)
Died c. 946. Saint Luke is known to the Greek Church as Luke the
Wonderworker.
His parents were farmers or peasant proprietors on the island of Aegina, but
were forced off their land by attacking Saracens. They settled in Thessaly,
Greece. Luke was the third of the seven children of Stephen and Euphrosyne.
Although Luke was a pious and obedient boy generally, he often made them
angry
because of his charity to those poorer than himself. In childhood he often
gave
his meal away to the hungry, or would strip off his clothes for a beggar.
When
sowing seed, for instance, Luke the Wonderworker spread at least half of it
over
the fields of the poor instead of over his parents' fields. Later it was
said
that one of wonders God worked on Luke's behalf was to make his parents'
crops
yield more than anyone else's, even though he had given away half the seeds.
But
at the time his mother and father were extremely angry.
After Stephen's death, Luke left the fields and gave himself for a time to
contemplation. When he told his family that he wanted to enter a monastery,
they
tried to stop him. But Luke ran away. Unfortunately, some soldiers caught
him
and for a time put him in prison, thinking he was a runaway slave. When he
said
that he was a servant of Christ and had undertaken the journey out of
devotion,
they refused to believe him. He was shut up in prison and cruelly treated
until
his identity was discovered. He was allowed to return home where he was
scolded
for running away.
In the end, however, Luke got his way. Euphrosyne provided hospitality to
two
monks on their way between Rome and the Holy Land. They managed to persuade
his
mother to let him accompany them as far as Athens. There Luke was admitted
as a
novice in a monastery, but he didn't stay long. One day the superior sent
for
him and told the young saint that Luke's mother had appeared to him in a
vision
and that, as she needed him, he must return home to help her. Luke went home
once again and was received with joy and surprise. After four months
Euphrosyne
herself became convinced of her son's calling and no longer opposed his
entering
religious life. So, age the age of 18, he built himself a hermitage on Mount
Joannitsa near Corinth and lived there happily for the rest of his life.
Luke is
one of the earliest saints to be seen levitating in prayer. He worked so
many
miracles there that the site was turned into an oratory after his death and
became known as Soterion or Sterion (place of healing) and he himself as the
Thaumaturgus (the wonder-worker) (Benedictines, Bentley, Walsh).
From:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/00207.shtml
<><><><>
Whoever humbleth himself shall be exalted. -Lk. 14:11
"Humility is necessary not only for the acquisition of virtues but even for
salvation. For the gate of Heaven, as Christ testifies, is so narrow that it
admits only little ones"
-St. Bernard
The Pharisee was separated by his condition in life from the rest of
the
people, as this sect formed a kind of religious order, in which they prayed,
fasted, and performed many other good works; but he was, notwithstanding,
reproved by God. Why, then, was this? For no other reason than that he was
wanting in humility; for he felt much satisfaction in his good works, and
gloried in them as if they were the result of his own virtue.
William, Bishop of Lyons, tells in his Chronicles, of a monk who often
violated the prescribed silence, but upon being admonished spiritually by
his
Abbot he amended, and became So recollected and so devout that he was worthy
to
receive from God many revelations. Now, it happened that the Father Abbot
was
sent for by a hermit, who, having reached the close of a virtuous life,
desired
to receive from him the last Sacraments. The Abbot went, and took with him
the
silent monk. On the road, a robber, hearing the little bell, accompanied the
Blessed Sacrament as far as the cell of the dying man; but he stopped
outside,
considering himself unworthy to enter the abode of a saint. After the hermit
had
confessed and received Communion with humility, the robber kept repeating at
the
door, "Oh, Father, if I were but like you, oh, how happy should I be!" The
hermit hearing this, said in his heart, with presumption and complacency,
"You
are right to desire this; who can doubt it?" and immediately expired. Then
the
good Religious began to weep, and withdrew from the Abbot. The robber
followed
them, with tears and hatred for his sins, and the full purpose of confessing
and
doing penance for them, as soon as they should arrive at the monastery. But
he
was not able to reach it, for on the way he fell unexpectedly to the ground
and
died. At this accident, the Religious became joyous again and laughed; and
when
the Abbot asked him why he had been sad at the death of the hermit, and
joyful
at that of the robber, he replied: "Because the former is lost, in
punishment
for his presumption, and the latter saved, on account of his strong
resolution
to do fitting penance for his sins; and the sorrow he felt for them was so
great
that it has canceled even all their penalty"
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". February - Humility)
Bible Quote:
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the
greater in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:4)
<><><><>
Faithful Cross! above all other,
One and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peers may be;
Sweetest Wood and Sweetest Iron!
Sweetest Weight is hung on thee.
Bend thy boughs, O Tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigor,
That thy birth bestowed, suspend;
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!
Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world's ransom to uphold
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbor, like the Ark of old;
With the sacred Blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Roman Breviary, Invention and Exaltation of the Cross, Crux fidelis inter
omnes at Laods. (From hymn Pange Lingua Gloriosi) (Tr. Neale) (Fortonatos,
6th cent.)
.
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