Subj : August 24th - St. Bartholomew, Apostle To : All From : rich Date : Wed Aug 23 2017 10:01:44 From: rich August 24th - St. Bartholomew, Apostle by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876 The Gospel gives us no other account of St. Bartholomew, than that he was joined by our Saviour to those men whom He called as Apostles, and chose to convert mankind. Hence, with the others, he followed the Divine Teacher, and learned from Him the doctrine which he afterwards preached to the nations. The life of this saint, after the ascension of Christ, is described by authentic writers as follows. When the Holy Apostles, after the Holy Ghost had descended upon them, dispersed to preach the gospel to the whole world, St. Bartholomew was sent into East India and the neighboring countries. He repaired thither, not without great hardship, and wandering through cities and villages, he everywhere converted great numbers of the heathen. Having provided all these places with priests, he journeyed to Greater Armenia.... See more at: http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Bartholomew.html catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/New%20Index%20of%20the%20Saints%202.html PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. I. Bartholomew, the holy Apostle, threw himself on his knees a hundred times during the day, and as often at night, to pray to the Almighty. An Apostle found leisure for this, though overburdened with work and assured of divine aid in all his undertakings. You have not so much work, neither are you assured of divine aid, and yet you seldom take refuge in prayer to the Almighty. What is the reason of this? You are perhaps, one of those negligent persons, who do not even think of their morning and evening prayers, but like dumb brutes rise and lie down again. Of course, it never comes into your mind to pray during the day. Do you call that, I will not say, a Christian, but even a rational life? Will you go on in this manner? I do not require of you to bend your knees a hundred times during the day and night, but I advise you to pray more frequently and more devoutly than you have done heretofore. Before all things, do not omit to turn your thoughts to heaven, morning and evening, if only for one short prayer. If ever you omit to do this, let it be on those days when you need no benefits from the Almighty. But when will such a day dawn? Surely, never as long as you live; for there is no day in which neither your soul nor your body may be exposed to such dangers as to require the assistance of the Most High. Hence it is no more than your duty to pray in the morning most fervently for this divine assistance. And as no day passes on which the Almighty bestows no grace on you either in soul or body, it is therefore no less your duty at the close of the day to offer Him your grateful thanks. During the night, you are as little secure from the persecutions of the evil one, and of wicked men, as during the day; hence, you need God's protection at night as well as in the day. But how can you expect this aid, if you do not even ask for it? "We rise in the morning," says St. Chrysostom, "and know not what may happen to us through the day; we live surrounded by danger: why then, do we not call on God for help?" Let it at least be done morning and night, and also during the day, while you are at your work. Hear the words of St. Lawrence Justinian: "Nothing is so powerful to overcome the rage of our enemies as continual prayer. But as other affairs do not permit us to pray continually, we ought to pray during our work. He who is occupied with good works, prays to God with a loud voice, though his tongue is silent. We ought, nevertheless, to endeavor, before we begin our day's labor, to send a prayer on high. For, as a soldier without his weapons dares not enter the field of battle, so a Christian should begin nothing without arming himself with prayer. When going out and returning home, prayer should accompany him. He should not lie down to rest before having recommended himself, soul and body, to the Almighty." II. St. Bartholomew rather suffered himself to be flayed than offend God by sacrificing to an idol. The martyrdom was inhuman, the pain inexpressibly great. But all this had an end; all was soon over. Had he acted differently, had he offended God, he would have escaped this dreadful torture, but he would now be suffering much greater pains, and such as never end; as the tyrant and those idolatrous priests suffer, who were the cause of his martyrdom. They were tormented during thirty days on earth, and after that, they have suffered in hell until now, and will suffer for all eternity. Hence, tell me, if you had to suffer, either with the holy Apostle, or with the idolatrous priests and the tyrant, with whom would you rather share the pains? I believe that you would certainly prefer to be flayed with St. Bartholomew; for, his sufferings, although so terrible, ended, and, in comparison with the pains of hell, were but very trifling. I ask you further: why then have you so frequently offended God when you had not to fear torments? Why have you voluntarily placed yourself in danger of being cast forever into the torments of hell? Ah! you cannot have considered the pains, the torments which attend the sinner in hell! Think seriously of it in future, and you will not sin, and will therefore escape hell. To think frequently of hell, is a powerful means to escape it; and to forget it, casts many into the whirlpool of sin, and thence into hell. St. Chrysostom writes of the rich man as follows: "If this man had thought of the fire of hell, he would never have sinned: but never calling it to mind, he sinned, and thus was cast into the flames." Hence I advise you to think often of hell. <><><><> Prayer: Be thou, O Lord, eternally praised and blessed, for having communicated thy spirit to the holy prophets and apostles, disclosing to them admirable secrets, redounding to thy glory and our great good. We firmly believe their word, because it is thine. Give us, we beseech thee, the happiness to understand their instructions, and so conform our lives thereto, that at the hour of death we may merit to be received by thee into the mansions of eternal bliss. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 # Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) * Origin: Region 15 HQ (1:15/0) .