What kind of harvest does the Lord want us to reap today

What kind of harvest does the Lord want us to reap today for his
kingdom? When Jesus commissioned seventy of his disciples to go on
mission, he gave them a vision of a vast field that is ready to be
harvested for the kingdom of God. Jesus frequently used the image of a
harvest to convey the coming of God's reign on earth. The harvest is
the fruition of much labor and growth--beginning with the sowing of
seeds, then growth to maturity, and finally the reaping of fruit for
the harvest.

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January 7th - St. Aldric, Bishop of Le Mans
(Also known as Aldericus, Audry)

THIS saint was born of a noble family, partly of Saxon and partly
Bavarian extraction, about the year 800. At 12 years of age he was
sent by his father to the court of Charlemagne where, in the household
of Louis the Pious, he gained the esteem of the whole court. About the
year 821 he retired from Aix-la-Chapelle to Metz, where he entered the bishop’s school and received clerical tonsure. After his ordination
the Emperor Louis called him again to court, and made him his chaplain
and confessor. In 832 St. Aldric was chosen bishop of Le Mans. He
employed his patrimony and his whole interest in relieving the poor,
providing public services, establishing churches and monasteries, and
promoting religion. In the civil wars which divided the empire his
fidelity to Louis and to his successor, Charles the Bald, was
inviolable. For almost a year he was expelled by a faction from his
see, Aldric having antagonized the monks of Saint-Calais by claiming
that they were under his jurisdiction. The claim was not upheld,
though supported by forged documents, for which the bishop himself is
not known to have been personally responsible.

Some fragments have reached us of the regulations which Aldric made
for his cathedral, in which he orders ten wax candles and 90 lamps to
be lighted on all great festivals. We have three testaments of this
holy prelate extant. The last is an edifying monument of his piety: in
the first two, he bequeaths lands and possessions to many churches of
his diocese, adding prudent advice and regulations for maintaining
good order and a spirit of charity. The last two years of St. Aldric’s
life he was paralysed and confined to bed, during which time he
redoubled his fervour and assiduity in prayer. He died January 7, 856,
and was buried in the church of St. Vincent, of which, and of the
monastery to which it belonged, he had been a great benefactor.

The medieval Latin life of St. Aldric has been re-edited by Charles
and Froger, Gesta domini Aldrici (1890). No scholar now regards it as
fully reliable, but the first 44 chapters seem to be older and more
trustworthy than the rest. Some attempts have been made to connect St.
Aldric with the compilation of the Forged Decretals, but this idea has
not found much favour, though Paul Fournier has shown good reason for
believing that they first took shape in the neighbourhood of Le Mans
during his episcopate. On the other hand, Julien Havet has argued that
the first 44 chapters of the Gesta were written as a piece of
autobiography by Aidric himself. In any case Havet seems to have
proved that in contrast to the chapters in the later portion of the
Gesta and those in the Actus pontificum Cenomannis...the 19 documents incorporated in the first 44 chapters are all authentic.


Saint Quote:
We need not fear to be puffed with the knowledge of what God has done
for us, if we keep well before us the truth that whatever good there
may be in us, is not of us. Though a mule is laden with the precious
treasures of a prince, is it not still a clumsy, filthy beast?
-- Saint Francis de Sales

Bible Quotes:
"I say to you that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one
sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not
penance" (Luke 15:7)


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Sursum Corda: Lift Up Your Hearts

“Lift up your hearts!” This is the exhortation of the Church to her children in the Preface of the Mass. Lift up your hearts by means of
meditation and prayer in the midst of the allurements and
entanglements of the world, in order that you may so pass through
things temporal as not to lose the things that are eternal.

Lift up your hearts in your work. “All whatsoever you do in word or in
work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him” (Col. Iii.17). “Therefore, whether you eat
or drink or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1
Cor.x.31). Lift up your hearts in daily supplication that you may live
and die in the love and grace of God.

“By two wings,” says the Imitation, “is many lifted above earthly things”; namely, by simplicity of intention and by purity of
affection; hence the watchword:

For God Alone! And My God and My All!

“Aspire to God,” says St. Francis de Sales, “with short but frequent outpourings

of the heart.” And St. Philip Neri encourages us likewise, saying: “It
is an old custom with the servant of God always to have some little
prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during
the day, lifting their minds to God from out of the filth of this
world. He who adopts this plan will derive great fruit with little
pains.”

Lift up your hearts to Mount Olivet, where Jesus is writhing in His
awful agony,

Up to Mount Calvary, where Jesus is dying on the cross; up to heaven,
where Jesus is enthroned in His glory. If with mortal eyes you are not
able to behold the full glory of this abode of the blessed, and if you
cannot draw near to Him, the Eternal One, because He dwells “in the
light inaccessible,” do not be discouraged, lift up your hearts! For
in the light of the bright ray which God will cause to shine upon you,
you will be able to form at least some faint conception of the glories
of the celestial city.

Lift up your hearts to heaven! There alone is an object truly worthy
of your love!
– Father Lasance -1926

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