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April 27, 2007

THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).

(John 10:16) And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.

VIA CHIESA: Easter in Vietnam: An Extraordinary Account

AMONG CATHOLIC PRIESTS, VIETNAMESE ARE THE NEW IRISH

Crossing the Pacific in a dilapidated boat, 10-year-old Bich Vu had a face-off with God. "If you save me and my family," he promised nearly three decades ago, "my life will be yours."

The miracle happened, and Vu, now 39, kept his word by becoming a priest.

"My experience on the ocean," he says, "made my faith grow stronger. It taught me that I was weak. I couldn't save myself; I had to depend on God."

Vu, known to parishioners at Anaheim's St. Boniface Catholic Church as Father Augustine, is part of a wave of immigrant Vietnamese priests helping ease a critical cleric shortage and changing the face of the Roman Catholic Church.

"Vietnamese priests are filling the gap," said Ryan Lilyengren, a spokesman for the Diocese of Orange. "People are calling them the new Irish."

Though Asians are only 1% of the estimated 77 million U.S. Catholics, they account for 12% of Catholic seminary students, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. In places such as Orange County, home to the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam, that has translated into major change: Of 181 diocesan priests, Lilyengren said, almost 28% are Asian, predominantly Vietnamese.

The influx of Vietnamese clergy comes as the number of priests nationwide has dropped nearly 30% in three decades, from 58,900 in 1975 to about 41,700 last year.

Vietnamese immigrants are stepping in, experts say, for a number of reasons. They come from a culture steeped in religious values that bestows high status on the clergy. They also grew up in a poor country where entering the priesthood was an economic step up. And many lived through political and religious repression when they weren't allowed to practice their faith, let alone become priests.

"Under the Communists we couldn't go to seminary," Vu said, "[so] we have a desire to become priests."

RELATED: Furor over jailing of Roman Catholic Priest (Father Ly) in Vietnam

MORE ON FATHER LY: Heroes leading us through the darkness 

The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

8. Lot went to Joseph and said, 'Abba as far as I can, I keep a moderate rule, with a little fasting, and prayer, and meditation, and quiet: and as far as I can I try to cleanse my heart of evil thoughts. What else should I do?' Then the hermit stood up and spread out his hands to heaven, and his fingers shone like ten flames of fire, and he said, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'


April 26, 2007

(Deu 8:19-20) But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish. As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

MEXICO DEFIES CHURCH ON ABORTION

The Mexico City assembly has voted to legalise abortion, placing the capital of the second-biggest Catholic country on a collision course with the Catholic Church.

Defying warnings that they would be excommunicated, deputies voted 46-19 in favour of allowing the termination of pregnancies in the first 12 weeks. Penalties for women who have abortions after that time will also be cut, from as much as three years in prison to community service in most cases.

Nationally, Mexico allows abortions only in cases of rape, if the woman’s life is at risk or if there are signs of severe malformations of the foetus.

Pope Benedict XVI had intervened personally in the debate, sending a letter to Mexican bishops ordering them to oppose the measure. Conservatives also mounted an emotional campaign against the Bill, publishing symbolic death notices in newspapers and carrying tiny white coffins through the streets.

The Mexico City assembly has clashed with the Catholic Church before. It recently allowed same-sex civil unions and is debating whether to legalise euthanasia.

The Archbishop of Acapulco, Felipe Aguirre Franco, said that MPs who had voted to legalise abortion would “get the penalty of excommunication. That is not revenge, it is just what happens in the case of serious sins.” It is the latest loss suffered by the Vatican in its former bastions of Latin America and southern Europe. Portugal recently voted in a referendum to legalise abortion, and same-sex marriage was approved in Spain nearly two years ago. The Pope is due to visit Brazil next month in an effort to shore up the Church’s position in the most populous Catholic nation.

Where the procedure is banned —Abortion is illegal in Chile, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic —In 68 other countries, including Ireland, abortion is permitted only to save the life of a woman —Abortions are allowed only to preserve a woman’s health in 35 other countries, including Poland and Argentina

RELATED: Vatican Official: Abortion a Type of Terrorism

The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

7. Isiah said, 'A priest at Pelusium was holding a love-feast: and when the brothers in church were eating and talking, he rebuked them saying, "Be quiet, my brothers. There is one brother eating among you whose prayer is gong up to God like a darting flame."'


April 25, 2007

(Mat 28:19-20) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

DEATH OF LEADER OF CHINA'S STATE-BACKED CHURCH MAY SIGNAL CHANGE IN CHINA-VATICAN RELATIONS

Chinese Catholic Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing, who clashed with the Vatican by appointing non-approved bishops has died in Beijing, aged 76 years.

"The death of Bishop Fu is a national matter, more than a religious one," Hong Kong-based Franciscan priest Stephen Chan told ENI on 23 April 2007. "After his death, the government-sanctioned church may chose another person to replace him."

Francis Wong writes: The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association refuses to recognise the authority of the Vatican. Many Catholic lay persons and clergy, however, have stayed loyal to the church in Rome, something that has angered the Chinese authorities and has also resulted in [mistreatment] of those going underground for worship.

"Perhaps Fu's death will open a new chapter in the choice of a new pastor in Beijing who is more attentive to a harmonious society and more faithful to the Catholic Church," wrote Italian priest Bernardo Cervellera, who worked in China, and is now the editor of AsiaNews.it Cervellera wrote of Fu: "A grand career in politics and in the Patriotic Association, total subjection to the ideology and the power of the Party and the Patriotic Association; adored by the regime, disliked by his flock. With his death one of the most painful chapters of the Church in China comes to an end and a new phase of greater dialogue between China and the Vatican is (perhaps) on the horizon."

MORE: Hong Kong's Cardinal Zen prays for Fu Tieshan, but calls on China to commit itself more to relations with Vatican

RECENT REVIEW: CHINA: China's Catholics, the Holy See and religious freedom

TIBETAN CATHOLICS DEFY CHINA GOVERNMENT FOR FAITH

Deep in the southwest mountains of officially atheist China, a small congregation of Tibetan Catholics still pledges its loyalty to the Pope after years of persecution and isolation.

This community in the mountains of Yunnan province that buttress Tibet itself has remained a bastion of the faith since Swiss missionaries converted their ancestors a century ago.

Their small church was leveled in the 1960s during the heyday of the Cultural Revolution and its priests chased away. Members of the congregation also recount how they and their families endured frequent raids by their Buddhist neighbours.

But despite decades of hardship, the Catholic faith still runs strong among the few hundred villagers.

"No matter what happens, I would never abandon my religion," said 72-year-old Catholic Ma Dilin.

"There is no conflict between us and other religions. Our religion was passed on to me by the older generation, and will be passed on to the next generation. It is never going to change. I hope the younger generation can follow Catholicism as I do."

VIA CATHOLIC ONLINE: Catholic Chinese dioceses see surge in Easter baptisms among young, educated

The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

6.  Bishop Epiphanius of Cyprus, of holy memory, was told this by the abbot of his monastery in Palestine. 'By your prayers we have kept our rule; we carefully observe the offices of terce, sext, none and vespers.' But Epiphanius rebuked him and said, 'Then you are failing to pray at other times. The true monk ought to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). He should always be singing psalms in his heart.'

April 24, 2007 

(John 15:12-13) "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

THREE KILLED IN ATTACK ON BIBLE PUBLISHING HOUSE IN TURKEY

Three employees of a company that prints and distributes Bibles were killed in Turkey on Wednesday (April 18th) in the latest attack on the country's tiny Christian minority.

The victims -- two Turks and a German citizen -- were found in the building of the Zirve publishing house in Turkey's southeastern city of Malatya, with their hands and legs tied and their throats slit. The province's governor, Halil Ibrahim Dasoz, said in televised comments that one of the Turks was still alive when found but died later in hospital.

The German victim, identified by state-run Anatolia news agency as 46-year-old Tilman Ekkehart Geske, had been living in Malatya since 2003, the official said. The other two victims were identified as Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel.

Zirve general manager Hamza Ozant told CNN-Turk that the men were considering asking for police protection, following recent threats.

The new incident came amid growing concerns about rising nationalism in Turkey, where a teenager gunned down a Roman Catholic priest about 14 months ago. Several months later, two other priests were attacked. In yet another shocking incident, prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated outside his office in Istanbul in January.

Turkey's Christian community accounts for less than 1% of the country's population of more than 70 million people, the vast majority of them Muslims. 

Man Who Played Jesus Christ in TURK-7 Easter Broadcast Martyred

The man who brought Jesus to life in a recent Easter stage play televised on TURK-7 was the victim of a brutal and fatal attack.

According to a spokesperson for SAT-7, “Necati Aydin, husband and father of two young children, was one of three men brutally murdered on April 18 in far eastern Turkey in what many believe is a crime motivated by religious hatred. The three were workers at a Christian publishing house in the city of Malatya. Aydin was also an amateur actor and was featured in TURK-7's Easter-season programming just a week before the tragedy.” Said Terence Ascott, the SAT-7 CEO said, "This is truly a sad week for Christians."

TURK-7 broadcasts on SAT-7 PARS, which is part of the Christian satellite network created by and for the people of the Middle East and North Africa. "We are praying for the families, for the Church, and for the nation of Turkey that God will bring some good out of this terrible tragedy. Aydin, a man who portrayed Jesus on one of our broadcasts, was himself the target of religious hatred simply because he worked so that others would have a chance to understand the story of Christ in Turkish."

TURK-7 is an indigenous Turkish television ministry that broadcasts four hours a day on SAT-7's Farsi and Turkish channel. Christians make up less than one percent of the population of Turkey.

SAT-7 seeks to encourage and support the local Christian community and also to help all viewers come to a better understanding of Christianity, thereby dispelling many false stereotypes about the faith commonly held in parts of the Middle East. SAT 7's Arabic channel has broadcasted several programs that encourage dialogue, understanding, and peaceful co-existence between the major faiths of the region and the broadcaster hopes TURK-7 will carry similar programs in the future. 

NEWS WATCH: Turkey Christians Anxious After Muslims Kill Three Believers

COMMENTARY via Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | June 4, 2006 : It was not God who failed during the Holocaust or in the Gulag, or on 9/11, or in Bosnia. It is not God who fails when human beings do barbaric things to other human beings. Auschwitz is not what happens when the God who says "Thou shalt not murder" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" is silent. It is what happens when men and women refuse to listen.

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

5. He also said, 'When a distracting thought comes into your head, do not cast around here and there about it in your prayer, but simply repent and so you will sharpen your sword against your assailant.'


April 20, 2007

THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).

(John 10:16) And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice: And there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, VATICAN SET OUT TO MEND RELATIONS

Predictably, recent media reports that the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican were going to sit down at the negotiating table to resolve their long-standing differences were greeted by the public with a yawn.

Although most people decided that the talks had little chance of success and so forgot the news as soon as they had heard it, this attempt at reconciliation should be taken seriously.

Monsignor Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, said that both Churches face many obstacles, such as historical prejudice, liturgical differences and the experience of religious life. These divisions have accumulated over the 950 years since the schism between the Eastern and Western churches in 1054. Monsignor Kondrusiewicz believes that both sides must try and reach a consensus on these and other issues. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What is important is that we have started negotiating," he said.

Although the talks have little chance of success, they at least represent an improvement; until recently, such an ecumenical dialogue would have been unthinkable. The hierarchs of both Churches have been prompted to move toward reunification by numerous factors: the increasing threat of radical Islam, the decline in moral values among the faithful, and the attempt by European politicians to banish Christianity from public life. A prime example of the latter is the European Union's reluctance to mention the Christian roots of European civilization in the EU Constitution.

The Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church are teaming up in order to deal with these challenges. The threat they pose is a clear indication that Christianity should not prolong the existing schism. Nevertheless, removing the obstacles to reconciliation mentioned by Monsignor Kondrusiewicz is no easy task.

VIA CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: Austrian cardinal optimistic on Catholic-Orthodox accord

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The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

4. Evagrius said, 'If your attention falters, pray. As it is written, pray in fear and trembling (cf. Phil. 2:12), earnestly and watchfully. We ought to pray like that, especially because our unseen and wicked enemies are trying to hinder us forcefully.'


April 19, 2007

(John 11:54) Wherefore Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews: but he went into a country near the desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem. And there he abode with his disciples.

THE HOLY LAND'S MOST ENDANGERED FLOCK

Deep in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian village of Taybeh exists as a final hilltop outpost of sorts. With no mosques and three churches, it is the only all-Christian village left in the Holy Land.

But in the decades of violence, occupation and economic hardship, thousands have fled for better lives abroad and just 1,300 villagers remain.

The Christians who remain here believe they have a special connection to Taybeh because 2,000 years ago, when it was known as Ephraim, Jesus is said to have taken refuge in the village during the weeks leading to the crucifixion.

"In Taybeh, we were evangelized by Jesus Christ himself," says Father Raed Abusahlia from his office at Christ the Redeemer church. "We are the successors of His apostles. And so, when people tell me they are preparing to move abroad, I make this theoretical argument: `You are here because God wanted you to be here. It's not by chance. Your mission is very clear: to witness Jesus Christ in His homeland.'"

Before Israel became a state in 1948, Christians made up 7.3 per cent of the population of the Holy Land. Now, at fewer than 160,000 people – 110,000 in Israel and just 50,000 in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza – Christians account for only 1.7 per cent of the population, according to a survey conducted for Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian grassroots group in Jerusalem.

The Christian population is shrinking twice as fast as it is growing; for every Christian born in the Holy Land, two move abroad.

But will there be a future for the only Christian village in the Holy Land?

"Our dignity does not come from our numbers. It comes from our presence," says Abusahlia, sounding a bit offended by the question. "We are an integral part of this country and this people. We have been for 2,000 years and we will remain here forever."

RELATED: Holy Land Journey Highlights Vital Christian Presence

MARONITE CARDINAL SFEIR CALLS FOR UNITY, LOVE AND VALUES IN LEBANON

Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has strongly reprimanded Lebanese “citizens and politicians” to “have piety on the country and to unite themselves to escape the present abyss”.

“The freedom which God gifted man – he told the assembly gathered at mass Sunday in Bkirki – is an extraordinary weapon, we can use it to do good or evil, but what we hear from declarations made today show that we tend more towards evil than good. Otherwise how can we explain the threats that are exchanged between both sides of the divide? As if the economic crises that is afflicting the country at present and the scourge of emigration was not already sufficient”.

"Have mercy on your country so as not to be without one," he pleaded.

"The Lebanese should stand united in order to build a country in which understanding, love and values prevail," he added.

RELATED

Rise in radical Islam last straw for Lebanon's Christians
Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon
Pope calls for peace & a new role for Lebanon

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

2. The brothers asked Agatho, 'Abba, which virtue in our way of life needs most effort to acquire?' He said to them, 'I may be wrong but I think nothing needs so much effort as prayer to God. If anyone wants to pray, the demons try to interrupt the prayer, for they know that prayer is the only thing that hinders them. All the other efforts in a religious life, whether they are made vehemently or gently, have room for a measure of rest. But we need to pray till our dying breath. That is the great struggle.'

April 18, 2007 

(Mat 19:14) But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such.

‘LITTLE AUDREY,' GIRL WITH DEVOTED FOLLOWING, DIES

The Worcester girl who became a saint-like symbol to thousands of believers as she lay in a comatose-like state for two decades died Saturday morning.

“Little Audrey,” as she became known, succumbed at age 23 to cardio-respiratory failure and was surrounded by three priests and family when she passed away, said John Clote, the family’s spokesman. In August, it would have been 20 years since Audrey Marie Santo was pulled unconscious from her family’s pool at age 3. She fell into a mute, paralyzed state after the accident, from which she never emerged.

Reports of unexplained phenomena around Audrey began to surface, like miraculous healing, blood-stained crosses and oil-oozing statues. An annual prayer service for the girl began to draw thousands of pilgrims from around the country. Her home, converted into a makeshift chapel, received a steady flow of tourists who prayed for her.

In 1999, an investigative commission appointed by the Diocese of Worcester found no evidence to substantiate claims of miracles associated with Audrey, nor did it find evidence of fraud. A guestbook set up for Audrey on the Britton Funeral Home’s Web site was already brimming with messages of prayer and devotion last night, a testament to the many people she has inspired. The funeral is planned for Wednesday for Audrey, who leaves three siblings and her mother, Linda.

VIA CWN: “We may never fully understand the causes of various paranormal events which have been reported,” said Worcester Bishop Robert McManus upon hearing of Audrey's death. He added, however, "Everyone who visited their home was touched by the unswaying commitment to life that was exhibited each and every day by the Santo family and by the extensive network of friends and volunteers. God works in mysterious ways, but most importantly, He works through each of us to make His love present for those who are most in need.” Bishop McManus will preside at a funeral Mass on April 18.

VIA Joyce Lang: Audrey dies on Feast of St. Lydwina of Schiedam---April 14, 2007

St. Lydwina Shiedam was the patron saint of prolonged suffering. This is very interesting..She was born in Holland to a poor noble father and an equally poor commoner mother. She became devoted to her faith at a very early age. When she was 16 she brike her rib in ice skating accident. The injury led to gangrene and she became paralyzed. This poor dear child suffered and it continued for decades, but she delved deeper into her faith and offered all of her pain and suffering up to our Blessed Lord. She was probably a victim soul. (she suffered much like little Audrey)

During a vision, she was shown Heaven, Purgatory and Hell and was visited by some Blessed Saints. It is said that she had the gift through which she was sustained by receiving only the Holy Eucharist for the last 19 years of her life. She died on Easter in 1433.

SAY THIS FOLLOWING PRAYER FOR SOMEONE OR YOURSELF THAT HAS PROLONGED SUFFERING WITH A CHRONIC ILLNESS. (unless of course you are a victim soul) ST. THERESA SAID THAT WAS THE WORST KIND OF SUFFERING. THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS ONLY CHRISTCIDENCES..AND THE FACT THAT LITTLE PRECIOUS AUDREY DIED ON HER FEAST DAY IS AWESOME.

O, ST. LYDWINA OF SCHIEDAM, YOU KNOW THE TOLL OF EXTREME PAIN AND SUFFERING. I ASK FOR YOUR SWEET PRAYERS THAT OUR BLESSED LORD WILL LESSEN THIS DEAR SOULS (GIVE NAME OR say MY) CURRENT PAIN ONLY IF IT BE THE WILL OF THE FATHER. I GLADLY OFFER THIS UP UNITED WITH THE LORD'S PAIN AND ALL OF HEAVEN'S. PLEASE ASK OUR FATHER TO TAKE PITY ON THIS DEAR ONE, (ME) SO THAT A NEW HEALTHY DISEASED FREE BODY TAKES SHAPE BEFORE HIS LOVING EYES. I ASK YOU HUMBLY TO INTERCEDE ON THEIR (MY) BEHALF FOR A BLESSED AND COMPLETE HEALING SO THAT THEY MAY DEVOTE THEIR STRENGTH AND LIFE TO SERVING OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST! AMEN!

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Unceasing Prayer

1. They said that on Saturday evening Arsenius used to turn his back to the setting sun and stretch out his hands towards heaven and pray until, at dawn on Sunday, the rising sun lit up his face, and then he sat down again.'

April 17, 2007

(Luke 13:1-5) And there were present, at that very time, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answering, said to them: Think you that these Galileans were sinners above all the men of Galilee, because they suffered such things? No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe and slew them: think you that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem? No, I say to you: but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.

HEADLINE: Virginia Tech Incident Called Worst Mass Shooting in US History

CATHOLIC CHURCH RESPONDS: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0702114.htm

LINK: Scriptural meditations on Christian suffering- Dealing with tragedy and trauma

HOMILY BY Abbot John Eudes Bamberger: DO YOU THINK THOSE 18 MEN WHOM THE TOWER AT SILO KILLED WHEN IT FELL WERE GREATER SINNERS THAN THE OTHER INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM?  

These words of our Lord took on a fresh poignancy for all of us recently when the towers of the World Center collapsed in the terrorist attack (EDITOR'S NOTE: or this present tragedy at Virginia Tech). Our Lord pronounced these words in an exchange with his disciples who were troubled over another shocking incident when a group of their fellow Galileans were assassinated in the very act of making an offering to God. In effect he warns them not to conclude that these and similar disasters are indications of God's special displeasure with such victims. We do well, however, to reflect carefully on his words which, while giving a certain reassurance that fatal disasters are not a measure of our guilt before God, yet at the same time serve as a warning against complacency. If I rightly understand our Lord's comments here, he states only that we all are vulnerable to calamity, the great calamity of perishing in sin. He does not attempt to resolve the great question that arises in all our minds in the face of catastrophe beyond telling us that we should see in it a severe warning to amend our own lives and to be ready to give an account to God for our souls.

The mystery of suffering remains mysterious for the Christian even after the resurrection of our Lord. But it does not remain meaningless; on the contrary, suffering and death itself take on a transcendent significance for those who put their faith and hope in Christ, the risen Lord of glory. That is the message St. Paul preaches in today's first reading.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, will give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who dwells in you.

Death, in other words, does not pronounce meaning on our life if we live according to the Spirit of Jesus, as it does for those who live under the law of the flesh. Living according to the Spirit does not remove us from the sufferings of this world, nor deliver us from the necessity of passing through death, but it takes away their sting; they can no longer frustrate our desire for life and love. They are emptied out and rendered powerless by the saving grace of the cross and resurrection of our savior.

When that mortal frame puts on immortality then there will be fulfilled what is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?' (1Cor 15: 54, 55)

Obviously, this does not take place without another kind of death; death to selfish attachments, even the closest of loving ties based on human affection, as Jesus had already indicated. ‘He who would save his soul will lose it; he would lose his soul for my sake, will save it.' (Luke 9: 24) To love in the Spirit and thus to overcome suffering and death, is the great task assigned to every one who would enter the kingdom of God. To this end we offer the Eucharist in which we partake of the divine gifts of Christ our risen Savior. May he always assist us in our weakness and strengthen and elevate our desire for spiritual beauty and truth. In us who prove loyal to him shall suffering and death give way to the fullness of life in his presence forever.

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Sober Living

49. A hermit said, 'When the donkey's eyes are covered it walks round the mill-wheel. If you uncover its eyes, it will not go on walking in the circle. So if the devil succeeds in covering a man's eyes, he leads him into every kind of sin. But if the man's eyes are uncovered, he can more easily escape.'

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