Follow the example of Christ:

    God our Savior made a plan for raising the human race from its
fall and restoring us to his friendship after the long alienation from
him caused by our disobedience. This was the reason for Christ's
coming in the flesh, for his giving us in the Gospel a pattern of how
we ought to live, for his suffering, his dying on the cross, his
burial and resurrection. By imitating him we were to
be saved, and would regain the adoptive sonship that had been ours in
the beginning.
    To attain holiness, therefore, we must follow the example that
Christ gave us, not only in his gentleness, humility, and patience
during life, but also in his death. Paul, who modeled his life on
Christ's, said that it was by dying as Christ died that he hoped to
attain to the resurrection of the dead.
    Now we imitate the death of Christ by being buried with him in
baptism. What does this kind of burial mean, and what do we hope to
gain by it? First of all, it means making a complete break with our
former way of life, which is impossible, our Lord said, without being
born again. To be born again means beginning a new life, and this we
cannot do without bringing our previous life to an end.
--Basil the Great , bishop of Caesarea,

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August 18th - Saint Agapetus, Martyr

(d. 274)
Saint Agapetus suffered in his youth a cruel martyrdom at Praeneste,
now called Palestrina, 24 miles from Rome. He had dared to reproach
for his cruelty towards the Christians, one of the Emperor Aurelian’s favorites, who immediately gave the order to arrest him. He was
flogged with leaden-tipped straps and “scorpions”; his constancy and
his prayer under torture converted 500 pagans, who declared
themselves Christians and were executed at once. The young martyr was
thrown into a horrible prison where a celestial vision fortified him.
After a second questioning, he was again scourged, then laid upon the
rack that his body might be torn with iron nails.

He still lived and was again ordered to sacrifice to Apollo; his
refusals won for him still more torments: live coals on his head,
suspension by his feet, boiling water poured over him. His courage was superhuman, his answers admirable. Wild beasts in the arena spared him
and lay down at his feet, and still more pagans were converted. He was
finally beheaded, and his body buried by the Christians, in a field
where they found a new tomb prepared as though for his sepulchre. Two
churches in Palestrina and others in various places are dedicated to
God under his name.


Saint Quote:
The soul of one who serves God always swims in joy, always keeps
holiday, is always in her palace of jubilation, ever singing with
fresh ardor and fresh pleasure, a new song of joy and love.
--St. John of the Cross

Bible Quote:
Jesus answered them: Amen, amen, I say unto you that whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin.  [John 8:34 ] DRB


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Prayer Against Envy

O my God, Thou so lovest the world that Thou gaveth Thy only begotten
Son so that all who believe in Thee might not perish, but may have
eternal life. Thou maketh the sun rise upon the good and the bad, and
Thou raineth upon the just and the unjust. Yet I am filled with
jealousy while others prosper. I want everything to come to me, and I
am saddened by my neighbor's least good fortune! O what inhuman
malice! O infernal poison! Forgive, o most loving Father what up to
this point has been my sin. Gentle is Thy mercy. From the depths of
that mercy, grant that henceforth I may be robed in kindness as a
chosen one of God. May I also, above all, strive to have charity,
which is the bond of perfection. (Col. 3:14)

Ant. Remember not, Lord, my offenses, nor the offenses of my fathers,
nor takest Thou vengeance upon them.

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