Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?March_16th_=E2=80=93_St=2E_Abraham=2C_Solitary_and_Priest?=
To   : All
From : rich
Date : Sun Mar 15 2020 10:17:27

From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

March 16th =E2=80=93 St. Abraham, Solitary and Priest
=C2 (died 370) and Saint Mary his niece=C2  (died 375)

Abraham was a rich nobleman of Edessa, born in the year 300. Ceding to
his parents' desire, while still very young he married, but escaped=
 to
a cell near the city as soon as the feast was over. His family
searched for him for seventeen days, and were still more astonished
when they found him. =E2=80=9CWhy are you surprised?=E2=80=9D he asked them=
... =E2=80=9CAdmire
instead the favor God has granted me, the grace to bear the yoke of
His service, which He has wanted to impose on me without regard to my
unworthiness.=E2=80=9D He walled up his cell door, leaving only a small win=
dow
open for the food which would be brought to him from that time on.

The wealth which fell to Saint Abraham by the death of his parents ten
years after his retirement, he gave to the poor by the good offices of
a friend, to whose probity he entrusted the commission. Since many
were seeking him out for advice and consolation, the Bishop of Edessa
ordained him priest, overruling his humility. Soon after his
ordination, he was sent to an idolatrous city which had hitherto been
deaf to every messenger. He was insulted, beaten, and three times
banished, but he returned each time with fresh zeal. For three years
he pleaded with God for those souls, and in the end prevailed. Every
citizen came to him for Baptism. After providing for their spiritual
needs he went back to his cell, more than ever convinced of the power
of prayer.

In that cell, then, for 50 years, he would continue to sing God's
praises and implore mercy for himself and for all men. Saint Ephrem
wrote of him that a day did not pass without his shedding tears; but
that despite his constant and severe penance, he always maintained an
agreeable disposition and a healthy and vigorous body. He never
reproved anyone with sharpness, but all he said was seasoned with the
salt of charity and gentleness.

There is a legend that his brother on dying left an only daughter,
Mary, to the Saint's care. He placed her in a cell near his own, an=
d
devoted himself to training her in perfection. After twenty years of
innocence she grew lax and fled to a distant city, where she drowned
the voice of her conscience in sin. For two years the Saint and his
friend Saint Ephrem prayed earnestly for her. Then Abraham went in
disguise to seek the lost sheep, and had the joy of bringing her back
to the desert a true penitent. She received the gift of miracles, and
her countenance after death shone as the sun. Saint Abraham died five
years before her, in about 360. All of Edessa came for his last
blessing and to secure his relics.

Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul
Gu=C3=A9rin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 3; Little Pictorial Lives
of the Saints.


Saint Quote:
"If you guard your tongue, my brother, God will give you the gift of
compunction of heart so that you may see your soul, and thereby you will
enter into spiritual joy. But if your tongue defeats you--believe me in
what I say to you--you will never be able to escape from darkness. If you
do not have a pure heart, at least have a pure mouth, as the blessed John
said."
--Saint Isaac the Syrian.

Bible Quote:
Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will
praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous
shall enter.=C2  [Psalm 118:19-20]


<><><><>
Carrying our own cross:

In the gospel Christ commands us all to take up our cross. He does not
tell us to take up another's, but bids us to carry our own. He does
not wish a nun to neglect her duties as a religious and burden herself
with the cares of a married woman; nor does it please him for a
married woman to neglect her household duties and turn into a nun. The
married man pleases God by being a good husband; the friar by being a
good religious; the merchant by running his business properly. Even
the soldier serves God by showing courage when circumstances demand
it, and by being content with his pay, as Saint John says. And the
cross which each of us has to bear, and by means of which we are to
attain union=C2  with Christ, is the very duty and obligation imposed on
each one of us by our state of life. Those who fulfill the duties of
their condition do God's will and accomplish his purpose. They win an
unblemished name and reputation and, as though by the labor of the
cross, reach the rest they have merited. On the other hand, those who
neglect their obligations, however hard they may labor to fulfill
others which they have taken upon themselves, waste their efforts and
forfeit their reward.
--Luis de Le=C3=B3n, O.S.A.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

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