From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   All have eyes   
      
   God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that   
   they keep the eyes of their mind open. All have eyes, but some have   
   eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the   
   sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun   
   does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and   
   their eyes. In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are   
   shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds. No one who   
   has sin within him can see God. If you understand this, and live in   
   purity and holiness and justice, you may see God.   
   --Saint Theophilus of Antioch   
      
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   April 11th – St. Guthlac of Crowland, Hermit   
      
   Born in Mercia, c. 673; died at Crowland, Lincolnshire, England, in   
   714; feast day formerly on April 12; feast of his translation is   
   August 30 and there is a commemoration on August 26. As a young man of   
   royal blood from the tribe of Guthlacingas, Guthlac had been a soldier   
   for nine years, fighting for Ethelred, the King of Mercia. At age 24,   
   he renounced both violence and the life of the world and became a monk   
   in an Benedictine double abbey at Repton, which was ruled by an abbess   
   named Elfrida.   
      
   Even in these early years his discipline was extraordinary. Some of   
   the monks in fact disliked him because he refused all wine and   
   cheering drink. But he lived down the criticism and gained the respect   
   of his brothers. After two years in the monastery it seemed to him far   
   too agreeable a place. On the feast of Saint Bartholomew about 701, he   
   found a wet, remote, unloved spot on the River Welland in the Fens,   
   which could be reached only by boat, and lived there for the rest of   
   his life as a hermit, seeking to imitate the rigors of the old desert   
   fathers.   
      
   His temptations rivaled theirs. Wild men came out of the forest and   
   beat him. Even the ravens stole his few possessions. But Guthlac was   
   patient, even with wild creatures. Bit by bit the animals and birds   
   came to trust him as their friend. A holy man named Wilfrid once   
   visited Guthlac and was astonished when two swallows landed on his   
   shoulders and then hopped all over him. Guthlac told him, "Those who   
   choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild   
   animals; and the angels visit them, too--for those who are often   
   visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels."   
      
   Apparently, Guthlac also had a vision of Saint Bartholomew, his   
   patron. Nor was he entirely alone in his refuge: He had several   
   disciples, Saints Cissa, Bettelin, Egbert, and Tatwin, who had cells   
   nearby. Bishop Hedda of Dorchester ordained him to the priesthood   
   during a visit. The exiled prince Ethelbald, often came to him for   
   advice, learned from Guthlac that he would wear the crown of the   
   Mercians.   
      
   When he was dying, Guthlac sent for his sister, Saint Pega, who was a   
   hermitess in the same neighborhood (Peakirk or Pega's church). Abbess   
   Edburga of Repton sent him a shroud and a leaden coffin. A year after   
   his death, Guthlac's body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt. Soon   
   his shrine, to which his sister had donated his Psalter and scourge,   
   became popular. When both King Wiglaf of Mercia (827-840) and   
   Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury (who was cured by Guthlac of the   
   ague in 851) became devotees, Guthlac's cultus grew and spread. A   
   monastery was established on the site of Saint Guthlac's hermitage,   
   which developed into the great abbey of Crowland, to which his relics   
   were translated in 1136. There was another translation in 1196.   
      
   Guthlac's vita was recorded in Latin by his near contemporary Felix.   
   Several others were composed in Old English verse and prose. Together   
   with Saint Cuthbert, Guthlac was one of England's most popular   
   pre-Conquest hermit saints (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer,   
   Gill, Husenbeth).   
      
   In art, Saint Guthlac is depicted holding a scourge in his hand and a   
   serpent at his feet...   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   If I were worthy of such a favor from my God, I would ask that he   
   grant me this one miracle: that by His grace He would make of me a   
   good man.   
   --Saint Ansgar to a parishioner who was praising him for being a miracle worker   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that   
   seeketh the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no   
   injustice in him.  (John 7:18)   
      
      
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   OFFERING OF DAILY ACTIONS   
      
   ETERNAL Father, by virtue of Thine generosity and love, I ask that   
   Thou accept all my actions, and that Thou dost multiply their value in   
   favor of every soul in Purgatory. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.   
      
      
   PRAYER FOR DECEASED PARENTS   
      
   O GOD, Who hast commanded us to honor our father and mother,   
   in Thy mercy have pity on the souls of my father and mother,   
   and forgive them their trespasses; and make me to see them again   
   in the joy of everlasting brightness. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)