On Self-Denial, and Renunciation of all Cupidity [II]

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On Self-Denial, and Renunciation of all Cupidity [II]

THE DISCIPLE.
Lord, this is not the work of a single day, and no easy matter. These
few words contain the whole way of spiritual perfection.
CHRIST.
My son, do not be discouraged or diverted from your purpose at hearing
of this way of perfection. Rather let it spur you to higher things and
at least, to set your heart on them. If only you would do this, and
attain that state where you cease to be a lover of self and stand
ready to do My will and His whom I have appointed as your Father, you
would greatly please Me and your whole life would be filled with joy
and peace. You have still many things to renounce, and unless you
surrender them to Me without reserve, you cannot obtain what you ask
of Me. I counsel you to buy from Me gold, refined in the fire, that
you may be rich (Rev.3:18) in that heavenly wisdom that rejects all
worthless things. Despise the wisdom of the world and every temptation
to please others or yourself.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 32

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September 11th - St. Patiens, Archbishop of Lyons, Confessor

GOD, by an admirable effect of his holy providence, was pleased to
raise up this holy prelate for the comfort and support of his servants
in Gaul, under the calamities with which that country was afflicted
during great part of the fifth century. For his extraordinary virtues
he was placed in the archiepiscopal chair of Lyons some time before
470AD: many think soon after the death of St. Eucherius in 450. [1] By
the dignity of his see he was metropolitan of the province called the
Second of Lyons; but he diffused the effects of his boundless charity
over all the provinces of Gaul. Providence wonderfully multiplied his
revenues in his hands, to furnish him with abundant supplies to build
a great number of rich and stately churches, to repair, adorn, and
embellish many old ones, and to feed the poor in the greater part of
the towns in Gaul, as St. Apollinaris Sidonius assures us. [2] That
illustrious contemporary prelate and friend of our saint declares,
that he knew not which to admire and praise more in him, his zeal for
the divine honour or his charity for the poor. By his pastoral
solicitude and assiduous sermons many heretics were converted to the
faith, and the Catholic church every day enlarged its pale. A great
field was opened to the holy prelate for the exercise of his zeal; for
the Burgundians, who were at that time masters of the city of Lyons,
were a brutish and savage nation, and infected with the heresies of
the Arians and Photinians. St. Patiens found the secret first to gain
their hearts and afterward to open their understandings, convince them
of the truth, and draw them out of the abyss of their errors.

The 48th sermon among those attributed to Eusebius of Emisa, which
is ascribed by the learned to our saint, is a confutation of the
Photinian and Arian heresies. [3] By order of St. Patiens,
Constantius, a priest among his clergy, wrote the life of St. Germanus
of Auxerre, which work he dedicated to our saint, and to Censurius of
Auxerre. All pastoral virtues shone in an eminent degree in this
apostolic bishop, says St. Apollinaris Sidonius. Like another Ambrose,
he knew how to join severity with compassion, and activity with
prudence and discretion. He seems to have died about the year 480. [4]
His name is honoured on the 11th of September in the Roman
Martyrology. See Apollinaris, Sidonius, Tillemont, Dom. Rivet, Hist.
Littér. de la France, t. 2, p. 504.

Note 1. See Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. t. 15, p. 129; t. 16, p. 97.
Note 2. Apoll. Sidon. l. 2, ep. 10; l. 6, ep. 25, et ep. 12.
Note 3. Eusebius, bishop of Emisa, (otherwise called Apamea, Hama, and
at present Hems, upon the Orontes, in Syria, 30 miles from Aleppo,)
was linked with the Semi-Arians, and flourished in 340. It is agreed
that the homilies published under his name were mostly compositions of
Gallican prelates in the early ages of that church. Several seem to
belong to St. Patiens, to whom Miræus, (Auctor. de Scriptor. Eccles.
c. 118,) Papirius Masson, and the Jesuit, Theophilus Raynaudus, (t. 8,
p. 1671,) think the acts of St. Genesius are to be ascribed.
Note 4. See Gall. Chr. Vet. a fratribus Sammarthanis, t. 1, p. 295.


Saint Quote
Perfection consists in one thing alone, which is doing the will of
God. For, according to Our Lord's words, it suffices for perfection to
deny self, to take up the cross and to follow Him.
--St. Vincent de Paul

Bible Quote:
For which cause I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God
which is in thee by the imposition of my hands. For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear: but of power and of love and of sobriety.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me
his prisoner: but labour with the gospel, according to the power of
God. .--St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy (2 Tim 1:6-8) DRB

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Prayer for Union with the Holy Ghost
By St Pius X (1835-1914)
Supreme Pontiff from August 1903-August 1914

O Holy Spirit of Light and Love,
to Thee I consecrate my heart,
my mind and my will
for time and for eternity.
May I be ever docile
to Thy Divine inspirations
and to the teachings
of the Holy Catholic Church,
whose infallible guide Thy art.
May my heart be ever inflamed
with the love of God and love of neighbour.
May my will be ever in harmony
with Thy Divine Will.
May my life faithfully imitate
the life and virtues
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To Him, with the Father
and Thee, Divine Spirit,
be honour and glory forever.
Amen.