X-Received: by 2002:a05:6214:a67:b0:5ef:43ec:d153 with SMTP id ef7-20020a0562140a6700b005ef43ecd153mr285768qvb.5.1681373643299;
        Thu, 13 Apr 2023 01:14:03 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 2002:a05:6870:5621:b0:187:7f29:c1 with SMTP id
 m33-20020a056870562100b001877f2900c1mr1570752oao.0.1681373642882; Thu, 13 Apr
 2023 01:14:02 -0700 (PDT)
Path: ...!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.religion.christian
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2023 01:14:02 -0700 (PDT)
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=2600:8807:8002:8a00:5165:1c0a:27cb:e070;
 posting-account=McBorwoAAABX3UwgsvDkrCZh8-cptElm
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2600:8807:8002:8a00:5165:1c0a:27cb:e070
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <67ccc35a-1b3d-4f88-bd23-c9b6cb15b15an@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Who do you honor at your table?
From: Weedy <richarra@gmail.com>
Injection-Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2023 08:14:03 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Bytes: 5253
Lines: 88

Who do you honor at your table?

Who do you honor at your table? The Lord is always ready to receive us
at his table. As far as we can tell from the gospel accounts, Jesus
never refused a dinner invitation! Why, in this particular instance,
does Jesus lecture his host on whom he should or shouldn't invite to
dinner? Did his host expect some favor or reward from Jesus? Did he
want to impress his neighbors with the honor of hosting the "miracle
worker" from Galilee? Luke 14:12-14

<<>><<>><<>>
April 13th - Saint Hermenegild, Martyr

(d. 586)
Leovigild, Arian King of the Visigoths, had two sons, Hermenegild and
Recared, who were reigning conjointly with him. All were Arians, but
Hermenegild married a zealous Catholic, the daughter of Sigebert, King
of France, and by her holy example was converted to the faith. His
father, on hearing the news, denounced him as a traitor, and marched
to seize his person. Hermenegild tried to rally the Catholics of Spain
in his defense, but they were too weak to make any stand; and after a
two years=E2=80=99 fruitless struggle, Hermenegild surrendered on the
assurance of a free pardon. Once he was safely in the royal camp, the
king had him loaded with fetters and cast into a foul dungeon at
Seville.

Tortures and bribes were in turn employed to shake his faith, but
Hermenegild wrote to his father that he regarded the crown as nothing,
and preferred to lose scepter and life rather than betray the truth of
God. At length, on Easter night, an Arian bishop entered his cell, and
promised him his father=E2=80=99s pardon if he would receive Communion from
his hands. Hermenegild indignantly rejected the offer, and knelt with
joy for his death-stroke, praying for his persecutors. The same night
a light streaming from his cell told the Christians keeping vigil
nearby that the martyr had won his crown and was celebrating the
Resurrection of the Lord with the Saints in glory.

King Leovigild, on his death-bed, was changed interiorly. He had been
witness to the miracles that had occurred after his son=E2=80=99s cruel dea=
th,
and he told his son and successor Recared to seek out Saint Leander,
whom he himself had persecuted. Recared should follow Hermenegild=E2=80=99s
example, said the king, and be received by the bishop into the Church.
Recared did so; and although his father himself had not had the
courage to renounce the false faith publicly, after his father=E2=80=99s de=
ath
the new king labored so earnestly for the extirpation of Arianism that
he brought over the whole nation of the Visigoths to the Church. =E2=80=9CN=
or
is it to be wondered,=E2=80=9D says Saint Gregory, =E2=80=9Cthat he came th=
us to be a
preacher of the true faith, since he was the brother of a martyr,
whose merits helped him to bring so many into the haven of God=E2=80=99s
Church.=E2=80=9D

Reflection. The victory of Saint Hermenegild teaches us that constancy
and sacrifice are the best arguments for the faith, and the surest way
to win souls to God.

Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler=E2=80=99s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).


Saint Quote:
"I have always something to repent for after having talked, but have never
been sorry for having been silent."
--St. Arsanius, The Tutor Of the Emperor's Children.

Bible Quote:
And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death; stay you
here, and watch. (Mark 11:34)


<><><><>
ACT OF LOVE TO THE SACRED HEART

How great, O my Jesus, is the extent of Thine excessive
charity! Thou hast prepared for me, of Thy most precious
Body and Blood, a divine banquet, where Thou givest me
Thyself without reserve. What hath urged Thee to this excess
of love?  Nothing but Thine own most loving Heart.

O adorable Heart of my Jesus, furnace of Divine Love,
receive my soul into the wound of Thy most Sacred Passion,
that in this school of charity I may learn to make a return of
love to that God Who hast given me such wonderful proofs of
His love.