From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The habit of prayer   
      
   "Jesus prayed and did not pray in vain, since he received what he   
   asked for in prayer when he might have done so without prayer. If so,   
   who among us would neglect to pray? Mark says that 'in the morning, a   
   great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and   
   there he prayed' (Mark 1:35). And Luke says, 'He was praying in a   
   certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him,   
   "Lord, teach us to pray,"' (Luke 11:1) and elsewhere, 'And all night   
   he continued in prayer to God' (Luke 6:12). And John records his   
   prayer, saying, 'When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his   
   eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son   
   that the Son may glorify you"' (John 17:1). The same Evangelist writes   
   that the Lord said that he knew 'you hear me always' (John 11:42). All   
   this shows that the one who prays always is always heard."   
    by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)(excerpt from ON PRAYER 13.1)   
      
      
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   January 29th - St. Walloch of Scotland, Bishop   
   (Also known as Voloc)   
   Died c. 724.   
      
    The higher reaches of the Don valley have been inhabited since Bronze   
   Age times as far west as Corgarff. Lower down, an offshoot of the Don,   
   the waters of the Buchat, have created a fine and fertile glen to the   
   north of the ancient holy mountain of Strathdon--Ben Newe.   
      
   Saint Walloch was a Celtic missionary whose principal church was at   
   Logie-in-Mar amongst the pictish settlements of what became known as   
   Cro-mar. Far to the north of Glenbuchat we see a solitary glimpse of   
   the presence of the Celtic church at Kilvalauche, somewhere in the   
   forest of Badeneoin, which is mentioned in a charter of 1507.(1) This   
   name can hardly mean anything else than the church of St. Walloch.   
   From the same document we learn that Culbalauche, St. Walloch's   
   retreat, was in the neighbourhood. Prior to 1473 the Chapel of   
   Glenbuchat was a dependancy of Logie-Mar, the link with St. Walloch   
   thus being given the strongest argument conceivable in its favour.   
   Incidentally, confirmation seems to be obtained from a statement (2)   
   that St. Walloch, in addition to his other church foundations, at   
   Dunmeth in Glass and at Balvenie, had a church site in Strathdon.   
      
   We have no trustworthy guidance as to the date of St. Walloch's   
   labours. The Aberdeen Breviary places him in the fifth century, while   
   Camerarius fixes his death in the year 733. In the Breviary we are   
   given an interesting account of St. Walloch's mode of life, coupled   
   with a highly unflattering picture of the folk he strove to convert:   
      
   "He preferred a poor little house, woven together of reeds and   
   wattles, to a royal palace. In this he led a life of poverty and   
   humility, on all sides shunning the dignities of the world, that he   
   might achieve to himself a higher reward in heaven. But the race whom   
   he preferred to convert to the faith of Christ, and whom actually by   
   his preaching and exhortation he did convert, no one would hesitate to   
   describe as fierce, untamed, void of decency of manners and virtue,   
   and incapable of easily listening to the word of truth, and their   
   conversation was rather that of the brutes that perish than of men."   
      
   St. Walloch is said to have been among the last of the missionaries to   
   be sent to the north-east from St. Ninian's centre at Whithorn   
   (Candida Cassa). Though familiarly called "Walloch the foreigner", his   
   origin and nationality are actually unknown. At his foundation at   
   Logie-in-Mar there stands, at the gate and just outside the   
   churchyard, a rough monolith about 5' 6" tall, known as Walloch's   
   Stone. "Walloch's Fair" was a popular event in the district and was   
   held on his Feast Day--29th January.   
      
   One source (3) gives us a very different history saying that the saint   
   whose name appears in a corrupted form as Wolok, latinised Volocus, is   
   believed to be Faelchu, 13th abbot of Hy (Iona) from 716 till 724. He   
   sprang from the race of Conall Gulban, the ancestor of the famous   
   lineage of Cenel Conaill and several of the saints of Ireland   
   including St. Columba himself. Born in 664, Faelchu was 73 when, on   
   Saturday, 29th August, he was called to the chair once occupied by St.   
   Columba. Indeed, it has been thought that Fedlimid, 14th abbot of Hy   
   (722-?), was an assistant abbot appointed to take care of business   
   because of Faelchu's great age.   
      
   Walla Kirk (Walloch's Church), as the church of Dunmeth in Glass was   
   called, stood in its burying-ground on the bank of the Deveron, but is   
   now represented only by some mounds. It was held in superstitious   
   regard even in post-reformation times for in 1648 the ministers of   
   Strathbogie "ordanit to censure all superstitione at Wallak Kirk".   
   About a 100 yards east of the church once flowed St. Wallach's Well.   
   On its margin lay a stone with a hollow in it, into which pins were   
   dropped by health-seekers as offerings to the saint. As the result of   
   agricultural improvements the spring has been drained, and the water   
   gushes out further down the bank, where the stone now lies unheeded.   
   In the neighbourhood of the graveyard, where a foot-bridge spans the   
   Deveron, is Wallach Pot, a pool in the river said to be about 14 feet   
   deep. Fully a quarter of a mile further along the river bank is a   
   long, trough-like hollow in the rock, known as St. Wallach's Bath.   
   Sickly children used to be dipped in its water. Pieces of their   
   clothing and also coins were thrown into the bath as offerings. If   
   there is any truth in the tradition that St. Wallach's Hermitage stood   
   on a neighbouring mound, he must, it is to be presumed, have arrived a   
   number of years before he became abbot of Hy.   
      
   1 Registrum Magni Sigilli, 1424-1513, No. 3159.   
   2 David Camerarius, De Scotorum Fortitudine (1631) p.94   
   3 Mackinlay, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland, (1914) p. 143   
      
   These Lives are archived at:   
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints   
      
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the   
   bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who sown in the Virgin,   
   raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the over of   
   the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the   
   faithful each day with food from heaven." -St. Peter Chrysologus,   
   Homilie 67   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   16 Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and   
   more ungodliness, [2 Timothy 2:16]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer for Selfless Service:   
      
   O Dearly beloved Word of God, teach me to be generous, to serve Thee   
   as Thou dost deserve, to give without counting the cost, to fight   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)