• =?UTF-8?Q?Zeal_in_Amending_our_Lives=C2=A0_=289=29?=

    From Weedy@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 20 23:42:00 2021
    Zeal in Amending our Lives  (9)

     If there were nothing else to do but praise the Lord God with all
    your heart and voice, if you had never to eat, or drink, or sleep, but
    could praise God always and occupy yourself solely with spiritual
    pursuits, how much happier you would be than you are now, a slave to
    every necessity of the body! Would that there were no such needs, but
    only the spiritual refreshments of the soul which, sad to say, we
    taste too seldom!
    Thomas a Kempis--Imitation of Christ--Bk 1, Ch 25

    <<>><<>><<>>
    June 21st – St. Leutfridus, Abbot

    This was an extraordinary saint who is not well known, but an
    outstanding example to our tepid epoch. He was born in the mid-7th
    century near Evreux, France, of a good family, which he left to be a
    priest. After many trials, he founded La Croix-Saint Qu’en Abbey [Holy
    Cross Abbey], latter called Saint Leufroy Abbey in his honor. Because
    of his rigor, he suffered persecutions from the lax Bishops of the
    time. He had the gifts of miracles and prophecy.

    He was very severe. One day a woman mocked him because he was bald. He
    told her, “Why do you mock me for a defect of nature? You will be
    punished for this action. It will happen that you – and all your
    posterity – will have no more hair on the back of your head than I
    have on the top of mine.” The curse was fulfilled to the letter.

    One day he came across some peasants working on Sunday. He raised his
    eyes to Heaven and said, “Let this land be sterile and never a grain
    sprout here again.” From that day forward, the ground produced only
    weeds and thorns.

    St. Leutfridus had an ardent zeal for justice, only surpassed by his
    zeal for mercy, expressed by his love for the poor. While he was abbot
    of La Croix-Saint-Qu’en, a monk died and three coins were found on his
    person in violation of the vow of poverty. Leutfridus ordered the monk
    to be buried in profane land, not in the abbey cemetery. Afterward, he
    made a 40-day fast, praying and weeping for the soul of that monk who
    was apparently lost. After this penance, the Lord revealed to him that
    the soul of the monk had been freed from Purgatory.

    He had a terrible fury against the Devil. Once when he was in his
    cell, a monk came to tell him that the Devil had taken the shape of a
    monstrous animal and was in the chapel causing havoc. St. Leutfridus
    hurried to the chapel, but before facing the Devil, he went to each
    door and window and made the Sign of the Cross over them to close the
    exits. Then he advanced, and bit the animal furiously. The Devil tried
    to flee, but was prevented from leaving by the normal exits because of
    the Sign of the Cross the Saint had made over them. He tried to
    release himself from the animal body he had taken on, but God did not
    allow him to do so. St. Leutfridus continued to exorcise and bite him,
    until the monster found a way to escape through the top of the bell
    tower and disappeared.

    Comments of Prof. Plinio:

    These splendid facts from the life of St. Leutfridus suggest several
    different thoughts.

    First, the episode of the saint cursing a woman who mocked him for
    being bald in a certain way replicates what happened to the Prophet
    Eliseus, who ordered a bear to devour some boys who had mocked him for
    the same reason, because he had no hair. It was a lack of respect for
    a man of God that deserved punishment, even though today the actions
    of St. Leutfridus and the Prophet Eliseus certainly clash with the
    liberal mentality of many people. It is good for us to examine our
    reaction in face of these two facts. We should observe how shocked we
    are over these punishments to determine the degree of liberalism with
    which our souls are contaminated.

    Second, the incident with the peasants shows the zeal of St.
    Leutfridus for the glorification of God on Sunday. It should make us
    consider how seriously the commandment not to work or make money on
    Sunday must be taken. In the wake of the many greater errors of
    Progressivism, today we see the complete relaxation of the Third
    Commandment. Who actually respects the command to rest on Sunday as we
    should? I believe very few. It has become common to open stores and
    shop on Sundays and to work as on any other day. Before the Council,
    the ones doing these things were the enemies of the Church – the
    pagans and Masons. Catholics would never open their businesses on
    Sunday or shop on this day. Here we have St. Leutfridus reminding us
    that to work on Sunday deserves punishment, a punishment that will
    come in this life, as for those peasants, or in the next.

    Third, the episode of the monk who died having some coins in his
    possession demonstrates well the balance between the Saint’s justice
    and mercy. On the one hand, he forbade the body of the monk to be
    buried in sacred ground – again, a very anti-liberal decision. On the
    other hand, he had so great a pity for the state of that poor soul
    that he took it upon himself to pay for his fault, doing penance and
    fasting for 40 days. It is a splendid example of the equilibrium of
    the Catholic spirit. The harmonic presence of justice and mercy in the
    soul of St. Leutfridus is a shining mirror of the harmony between
    these two virtues that exists in the Catholic Church.

    The practice of a Catholic virtue always reflects one aspect of God.
    But when we have opposed virtues together - justice and mercy - such
    as we see here, they reflect God more perfectly, because we understand
    God in the harmony of the apparently opposed virtues, which allows us
    to better understand God as a synthesis of all virtues.

    Fourth, St. Leutfridus’ hatred of the Devil teaches us different
    things. I have seen many people who flee the Devil moved by fear. But
    I have seen fewer people who hate the Devil. This latter attitude
    should be much more common than it is. Indeed, if we really love Our
    Lord and Our Lady, we should normally hate their enemies.

    Now then, there is no greater enemy of Our Lord than the Devil. We
    should hate the Devil, therefore, with a hatred similar to that of St.
    Michael the Archangel, who drew his sword against him in the first
    celestial battle and drove the Devil and his cohorts from Heaven to
    Hell, indignant at his revolt against God. His battle cry, Quis ut
    Deus? [Who is like unto God?] expresses well his position of soul....

    http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j244sd_Leutfridus_06_21.html

     Quote:
    "Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge
    without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better
    than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of
    the stars."
    --Thomas á Kempis

    Bible Quote:
    But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience,
    benignity, goodness, longanimity, Mildness, faith, modesty,
    continency, chastity. Against such there is no law.  (Gal 5:22-23) DRB


    <><><><>
    THE HAND IN THE HARVEST
    What measure of love is the greatest
    To separate wheat from the chaff?
    The hand of God in the harvest

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)