True lovers of God.

True lovers of God.

 When a true lover of God suffers at the hands of his fellow men, he
is strengthened through the grace of the Holy Spirit and is made so
truly humble and patient and peaceable that, whatever wrong or injury
he suffers, he always retains his humility. He does not despise his
persecutors or speak ill of them, but prays for them with pity and
compassion more tenderly than for those who never harmed him. And he
does indeed love them more, and more fervently desires their
salvation, because he sees that he will have such great spiritual gain
from their evil deed, even though they never intended that he should.
But this kind of love and humility, which are beyond human nature, are
only brought about by the Holy Spirit in those whom he makes true
lovers of God.
--Walter Hilton

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May 29th – Sts. Conon (Father) and Conon (Son), Martyrs

Died 275
The Holy Priest-Martyr Konon (Conon) lived in Iconium (Asia Minor).
Having become a widower, he withdrew with his young son to a
monastery. By his pious life the saint was granted help from above--he
cast out devils, he healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and
preached the teaching of Christ amongst the pagans, converting many.
Reports about him reached the governor Dometian, a persecutor of
Christians. The officer asked him why he had chosen so severe and
mortified a life. To which the saint replied:

"Those who live according to the spirit of the world are fond of
pleasures and ease; but those who live according to the Spirit of God,
study to purchase the kingdom of heaven by pain and tribulation. As
for me, my desire is to forfeit my life here, that I may forever reign
with Jesus Christ."

Saint Konon was brought to trial and they directed him to offer
sacrifice to idols, but the preacher would not and he was handed over
for torture. At the trial was also brought the 17 year old son of the
martyr--Deacon Konon. After deceitful persuasions failed to get him to
renounce the True Faith, both father and son were subjected to cruel
tortures: having stripped and laid them on a red-hot cot, they
drenched them with hot oil, they threw them in a cauldron with boiling
tin, sulfur and tar, they suspended them upside down and scorched them
with a choking smoke,--but preserved by Heavenly power, the martyrs
remained unharmed. The shamed torturers in a rage then resorted to an
horrid means to destroy the preachers--to saw them up with a wooden
saw. Learning of this sentence, the saints asked time for prayer and
they cried out to the Lord:

"We give thanks to Thee, O Lord, for vouchsafing us to suffer for
Thine Name! We beseech Thee, grant peace unto Thine Church, put to
shame its persecutors, strengthen and increase those believing in
Thee, grant us to come unto Thee and give peace unto our souls".

And there resounded the Voice of God from the sky, summoning up the
holy sufferers. Having signed themselves with the Sign of the Cross,
the holy martyrs consigned their souls to the Lord. And at once an
earthquake happened, and all the idolous temples in the city
collapsed.

Monks secretly buried the bodies of the martyrs at the monastery,
where the saints during life had asceticised. This occurred during the
reign of Aurelian in the years 270-275. The relics of the holy martyrs
were later on transferred to Italy, to the city of Acerno (Campania).


Saint Quote
Beware of becoming vexed or impatient at the faults of others; for it
would be folly when you see a man falling into a ditch, to throw
yourself into another to no purpose.
--St. Bonaventure

Bible Quote
23 And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord
your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will
make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the
beginning. 24 And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the
presses shall overflow with wine and oil.  (Joel 2:23-24)

Saint Quote:
The extremities of the earth, and all in every part of it who purely
and rightly confess the Lord look directly towards the most holy Roman
Church and its confession and faith, as it were to a sun of unfailing
light, awaiting from it the bright radiance of the sacred dogmas of
our Fathers according to what the six inspired and holy councils have
purely and piously decreed, declaring most expressly the symbol of
faith. For from the coming down of the incarnate Word amongst us, all
the Churches in every part of the world have held that greatest Church
alone as their base and foundation, seeing that according to the
promise of Christ our Saviour, the gates of hell do never prevail
against it, that it has the keys of a right confession and faith in
Him, that it opens the true and only religion to such as approach with
piety, and shuts up and locks every heretical mouth that speaks
injustice against the Most High.
-- Saint Maximus the Confessor

Bible Quote:
I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify him
with praise  (Psalm 69:31)  DRB


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Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because
the hand of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.

28th DAY

In Purgatory, the just and loving soul loses sight of everything but
the purity of God, which it loves and the necessity of making itself
worthy of this purity.   This suffering is so intense, because it is
ignorant of the length of its exile from the sight of God.

Prayers:  Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.

De Profundis

   Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,
O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
   Let Thine ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplication.
   If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand it?
   For with Thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of Thy
law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word;
my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
   From the morning watch even until
night; let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy;
And with Him plenteous redemption.
   And He shall redeem Israel from
all its iniquities.
   Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine upon them:
   May they rest in peace. Amen.

Jesus meek and humble of Heart, hear our prayers in behalf of the
souls suffering in Purgatory, particularly those paying the debt
exacted for pride. Release them from their pain today, that they may
evermore glorify Thee in Heaven and intercede for us in the hour of
need.