14/23 In pilgrimings and fastings I do penance for a sin of youth. You see how wasted is my flesh.' 'What, then,' asked Aurelia, 'was the message you said you bore for me ?' 'This. Though I myself have no power to perform the sacraments of our faith, I tend upon one who has. He lies not far from here, like myself sick and weary, and, because of a vow, may not come within the precincts of any dwelling. In Macedonia, oppressed by our persecutors, he was long imprisoned, and so sorely tormented that, in a moment when the Evil One prevailed over his flesh, he denied the truth. |