Spiritual progress is the law of your being

Spiritual progress is the law of your being

Spiritual progress is the law of your being. Try to see around you
more and more of beauty and truth, knowledge and power. Today try to
be stronger, braver, more loving as a result of what you did
yesterday. This law of spiritual progress gives meaning and purpose to
your life. Always expect better things ahead. You can accomplish much
good through the strength of God's spirit in you. Never be too
discouraged. The world is sure to get better, in spite of setbacks of
war, hate, and greed. Be part of the cure of the world's ills, rather
than part of the disease. I pray that I may keep progressing in the
better life. I pray that I may be a part of the forces for good in the
world.
--From Twenty-Four Hours a Day

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June 26th - SS John and Paul, martyrs

Died 362?.
 There is debate as to whether or not the stories about the two
brothers named John and Paul are true or fiction. If true, there is
debate about the date. Their existing Passio is simply an adaptation
of the story of Saints Juventinus and Maximinus, army officers who
were martyred at Antioch under Julian the Apostate in 363.
Nevertheless, they are named in the canon of the Mass. Traditionally,
it is said that they served as army officers in the court of
Constantia, daughter of Emperor Constantine. One became her steward,
the other the master of her household.

The emperor next sent them to serve under his general Gallicanus, who
was defending Thrace from the Scythians. The Scythians were such
formidable enemies that some of Gallicanus's army surrendered. John
and Paul told him that victory would be his if he would become a
Christian. He did so, and the Scythians were routed.

The two brothers prospered until shortly after 360 AD, when Emperor
Julian began a policy of systematically degrading Christianity and
promoting paganism. The two saints declared that they would no longer
serve him. Summoned to his court, they simply stayed away and
reiterated their dislike of his pagan ways. He gave them ten days to
reconsider their attitude, but they remained firm. Julian then sent a
captain of his bodyguard, and the two Christian brothers were executed
on the Coelian Hill in Rome, in their own home.

About 35 years later a wealthy senator named Pammachius built a church
dedicated to their honor on the site of their home. This church, Santi
Giovanni e Paolo, has been excavated, and underneath 12th century
alterations has been uncovered the original facade. One wall consists
of a former pagan house, several stories high. Usually burials were
allowed only outside the city walls, but here bodies of martyrs have
been discovered--fitting in with the legend that the captain of
Julian's bodyguard secretly buried the bodies of John and Paul in
their own garden, announcing that they had gone into exile (Attwater,
Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia).

Fr. Delehaye has discussed the question of these saints very
thoroughly in his CMH., pp. 336-337. The spurious passio the martyrs
is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii, and elsewhere (cf.
St. Gallicanus, June 25). See also P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, in Studi
e Testi ix, pp. 55-65, and xxvii, pp. 41-62; J. P. Kirsch, Die
römischen Titelkirchen, pp. 26-33, 120-124, 156-158; Lanzoni, I Titoli
presbiterali di Roma antica, p. 46; Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlviii
(1930),  pp. 11-16; and DAC., vol. ii, cc. 2832-2870, where good
pictures are given of the supposed “house of John and Paul” on the
Coelian Hill.


Saint Quote:
He who wishes for anything but Christ does not know what he wishes; he
who asks for anything but Christ, does not know what he is asking; he
who works, and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing.
--St. Philip

Bible Quote
He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth
me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me.  (Luke
10:16)


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DEAR JESUS, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I
go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and
possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only
be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me
that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence
in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only
Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you
shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.