Resisting Temptation:

Resisting Temptation:

   The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little
trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by
waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire
tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what
we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are.
   Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of
temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused
admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.
   Someone has said very aptly: “Resist the beginnings; remedies come
too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength.” First, a
mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by
pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted
in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays
in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the
strength of the enemy grows against him.
Imitation of Christ--a Kempis, Ch 13

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15 March – Saint Pope Zachary

(Died 752) – Papal Ascension 5 December 741- 752, abolitionist of
slavery, apostle of the poor, Diplomat, Administrator of great renown,
peace-maker. Born at Calabria, Italy of Greek ancestry and died on 22
March 752 of natural causes. He was the last Pope of the Byzantine
Papacy. Zachary built the original Church of Santa Maria sopra
Minerva, near the Pantheon and restored the decaying Lateran Palace,
moving the Relic of the head of Saint George to the Church of San
Giorgio al Velabro, he forbade the traffic of slaves in Rome,
negotiated peace with the Lombards and sanctioned Pepin the Short’s
usurpation of the Frankish throne from Childeric III. Zachary is
regarded as a capable administrator and a skilful and subtle diplomat
in a dangerous time. He is also known as Zacharias.

 The Roman Martyrology states: – “At Rome, the birthday of St Zachary,
who governed the Church of God with great vigilance and was renowned
for his merits, rested in peace.”

Nothing is known of Zachary's early life, except that he was the son
of a Greek, Polychronius of Calabria. He was most probably a Deacon of
the Roman Church and as such, signed the Decrees of the Roman Council
of 732. He was selected to succeed Gregory III as Pope on 5 December
741.

His Pontificate was marked by charity for the Clergy and poor of Rome
but especially by vigorous diplomatic relations with the Lombards, the
Byzantine Empire and the Franks. Under Zachary’s predecessor, Gregory
III, the Papacy had continually suffered the depredations of the
Lombard King Liutprand. In line with his new political orientation,
Zachary repudiated the alliance of the Papacy with the Duke of Spoleto
against Liutprand and, instead, personally met with the King on two
occasions, persuading him to return the four Cities he had taken from
the Duchy of Rome and to desist from attacking Ravenna. Thus he
achieved peace with the Lombards.

In accord with his desire to maintain friendly relations with
Byzantium, Zachary immediately dispatched envoys to the Church of
Constantinople and to the iconoclastic Emperor Constantine of
Copronymos, to inform them of his election and to exhort the Emperor
to restore the use of sacred images. His envoys shrewdly withheld
their letters from the usurper Artabasdus, who at that time, had
seized Constantine’s throne while he campaigned against the Saracens.
They finally presented their letters in November 743, after the
rightful Emperor had regained his throne and he replied with a gift to
Rome of two large estates in South Italy.

Zachary’s close association with the Frankish Church began
immediately, as he received St Boniface’s renewed expressions of
loyalty and submission to the Chair of Peter and, confirmed for him,
the establishment of the Bishoprics of Würzburg, Buraburg and Erfurt.

Zachary corresponded with Archbishop Boniface of Mainz, counseling him
about dealing with disreputable prelates such as Milo, Bishop of Reims
and Trier. “As for Milo and his like, who are doing great injury to
the Church of God, preach in season and out of season, according to
the word of the Apostle, that they cease from their evil ways.”

He also confirmed Boniface as a Papal Legate to a Frankish Council in
742. Until his death Zachary corresponded with Boniface and the
Frankish Bishops and rulers, fostering ecclesiastical and moral
discipline and extending papal jurisdiction among the Franks.

Again in 745, Zachary held a Council at Rome, in which he confirmed
the condemnation for heresy, of Aldebert and Clement, previously
condemned by a Frankish Council under Boniface. When Pepin took the
throne, he inaugurated a new era in Church-State relations, when he
obtained the support of Zachary for the deposition of Childeric and
for his own Coronation (751).

History has remembered Zachary for his part in creating the
Carolingian-Papal alliance.
In his own time, he was noted for his Greek translation of the
Dialogues of Pope Gregory I the Great.

https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/15/


Saint Quote:
If your enemies see that you grow courageous, and that you will
neither be seduced by flatteries nor disheartened by the pains and
trials of your journey, but rather are contented with them, they will
grow afraid of you.
--Blessed Henry Suso

Bible Quote:
You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be
hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon
a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. (Mt.
5:14-15) DRB


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Man is destroyed by his own free choice

Man is destroyed by his own free choice: for out of love for some
worldly thing he throws himself into fire, is drowned in the sea and
gives himself into captivity. Let us suppose that someone's house or
field has caught fire. The person who wanted to save himself fled
without anything as soon as he noticed the fire, leaving everything in
it and concerned only with his own life. But someone else thought he
would take some of the goods with him, so he stayed behind to collect
them; and as he was taking them the fire, which had already
overwhelmed the house, caught him as well and burnt him. In this way,
through his attachment to some transient thing, he was destroyed in
the fire by his own free choice. Again, two men were shipwrecked. One
of them, wanting to save himself, stripped off his clothes and threw
himself into the water; and in this way he was able to save his life.
The other, wanting to save his clothes as well, was drowned,
destroying himself for the sake of a slight gain. Or again, let us
suppose that news of an attack by an enemy was announced. One man, as
soon as he heard the news, fled as fast as his feet would carry him,
without a thought for his possessions. Another, either because he
distrusted the news, or because he wanted to take with him some of his
goods, waited until later, and when the enemy arrived he was caught.
Thus, through his lack of alertness and his attachment to worldly
things, he lost body and soul by his own free choice.
--St. Symeon Metaphrastis