the nolalu barn owl <gordie@nolalu.on&#

Today we commemorate Saint Porcarius (d. 732), abbot of the monastery
of Lerins off the coast of Provence, France, and his companions in
martyrdom. In 731, Porcarius had a vision that the monastery would
soon come under attack so he sent a number of junior monks and the
boys trained in the monastery to Italy for safety. The rest of the
monks continued to work and pray and awaited their almost certain
fate. Vandals from Africa overran the abbey and slaughtered the abbot
and almost all of his monks. One story relates that four or five monks
were spared by being carried off as slaves to Spain or Northern
Africa. These monks eventually managed to return to Lerins in order to
bury the bodies of those slain.


Robert Ellsburg names William Blake, poet and visionary, as his person
of the day. In his childhood, Blake professed to have had visions of
angels and these helped to form his radical, prophetic vision of life.
While others saw England as a good place to be alive -- a society in
which order, moderation and common sense flourished, he saw his home
country as a society of death because of the false values in which it
was immersed. Blake also railed against organized religion and the
popular piety of his day. His spirituality centered around the
crucified Christ and, in his opinion, those around him lived watered
down versions of the gospel and in some cases, society even opposed
the message of Christ. Blake supported himself and his family with his
trade as an engraver. Although an authentic artist and skilled
craftsman, he had difficulty providing for his family because of his
strongly held opinions which he didn't hesitate to share with those
who paid for his services. According to Thomas Merton, Blake's radical
outlook and theology were "fundamentally the rebellion of the saints.
It was the rebellion of the lover of the living God." Blake's poetry,
simplistic to some, was an honest expression of his vision and,
because of its authenticity, cannot be called beautiful or nice in the
popular sense of these terms. Again, in the words of Merton, Blake's
writings helped others to "become conscious of the fact that the only
way to live is to live in a world that is charged with the presence of
God."


Scripture
(New Revised Standard Version)


Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned
the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and
they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the
people, "Thus says the Most High, the God of Israel, 'Your ancestors
lived of old beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of
Nahor and their families, and they served other gods. Then I took
Abraham and Sarah from beyond the river and led them through all the
land of Canaan, and made their offspring many. I gave them Isaac; and
to Isaac and Rebecca I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill
country of Seire to posses, but Jacob and his children went down to
Egypt. And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did
in the midst of it; and afterwards I brought you out. Then I brought
your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the
Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and cavalry to the Red
Sea.

And when they cried to God, the Most High put darkness between you and
the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and
your eyes saw what I did to Egypt; and you lived in the wilderness a
long time. Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived
on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them
into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed
them before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and
fought against Israel; and he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor
to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed
you; so I delivered you out of his hand. And you went over the Jordan
and came to Jericho, and the people of Jericho fought against you, and
also the Amorites, the Perizites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I gave them into your
hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before
you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by
your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities
which you had not built, and you dwell therein; you eat the fruit of
vineyards and oliveyards which you did not plant.'"

Joshua 24:1-13


Some Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking, "Is it
lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you
not read that the One who made them from the beginning made them male
and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh?' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God
has joined together, let no one put asunder." They said to him, "Why
then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to
put her away?" He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses
allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not
so. And I say to you: Whoever divorces a spouse, except for
unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery." The disciples said
to him, "If such is the case, it is not expedient to marry." But he
said to them, "Not all can receive this saying, but only those to whom
it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and
there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are
some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the realm of
God. Those who are able to receive this, let them receive it."

Matthew 19:3-12

Quote of the Day
(William Blake)


To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

This version taken from:
http://www.msb.net/Saint_of_the_day/8_12.htm
--
Gordie

'After this, we receive the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, of which Jesus Christ our
Lord became the first-fruits; Who bore a Body, in truth, not in semblance, derived from Mary
the MOTHER OF GOD (59) in the fulness of time sojourning among the race, for the remission
of sins: who was crucified and died, yet for all this suffered no diminution of HIS GODHEAD.'
- Alexander of Alexandria, Epistle to Alexander, 12 (A.D. 324), in NPNF2, III:40