From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Out of sight, out of mind   
      
      Christ is gone away; he is not seen; we never saw him, we only read   
   and hear of him. It is an old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." Be   
   sure, so it will be, so it must be with us, as regards our blessed   
   Savior, unless we make continual efforts all through the day to think   
   of him, his love, his precepts, his gifts, and his promises. We must   
   recall to mind what we read in the gospels and in holy books about   
   him; we must bring before us what we have heard in church; we must   
   pray God to enable us to do so, to bless the doing so, and to make us   
   do so in a simple-minded, sincere, and reverential spirit. In a word,   
   we must meditate, for all this is meditation; and this even the most   
   unlearned person can do, and will do, if he has a will to do it.   
   --John Henry Newman   
      
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   June 1st - Saint Pamphilus of Alexandria   
   d. 309   
      
   IN the section of his Ecclesiastical History devoted to the   
   Palestinian confessors, Eusebius describes his master Pamphilus as   
   “the most illustrious martyr of his day for philosophical learning and   
   for every virtue”. This is not mere conventional panegyric. There is   
   an unmistakable note of sincerity in the phrases which the historian   
   uses when he speaks of “my lord Pamphilus”, for he adds, “it is not   
   meet that I should mention the name of that holy and blessed man   
   without entitling him ‘my lord’”. In grateful veneration he had   
   himself assumed what he calls “that name thrice dear to me”, styling   
   himself Eusebius Pamphili, and he had written his hero’s biography in   
   three volumes which were known to St. Jerome but which are now no   
   longer extant. Pamphilus, who came of a rich and honourable family,   
   was born at Berytus (Bairut) in Phoenicia. After distinguishing   
   himself in all branches of secular knowledge in his native city,   
   itself renowned as a centre of learning, he went to Alexandria where   
   he studied in the great catechetical school and came under the   
   influence of Origen’s disciple Pierius. The remainder of his life was   
   spent at Caesarea, at that time the capital city of Palestine. There   
   he was ordained priest; there also he collected a splendid library   
   which survived until the seventh century, when it was destroyed by the   
   Arabs. He was the greatest biblical scholar of his age, and the   
   founder of a school of sacred literature. With infinite pains and   
   after examining and correcting many manuscripts he produced a more   
   correct version of the Holy Scriptures than any of those then current.   
      
   This he transcribed with his own hand, and disseminated by means of   
   copies made in his school which he bestowed upon worthy recipients, in   
   many cases gratis—for, besides being the most generous of men, he was   
   always anxious to encourage sacred study. An indefatigable worker, he   
   lived a most austere, self-denying life and was remarkable for his   
   humility. He treated his slaves and dependants as brothers and   
   distributed to his relatives, his friends and the poor the wealth   
   which came to him from his father. So exemplary a life found a fitting   
   culmination in a martyr’s death. In the year 308 Urban, the governor   
   of Palestine, caused him to be apprehended, cruelly tortured and   
   imprisoned for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. During his captivity   
   he collaborated with Eusebius, who may have been his fellow prisoner,   
   in writing an Apology for Origen, whose works he had greatly admired   
   and had copied. Two years after his arrest, he was brought before   
   Firmilian, the successor of Urban, for examination and judgement,   
   together with Paul of Jamnia, a man of great fervour, and Valens, an   
   aged deacon of Jerusalem, who was credited with having committed the   
   whole of the Bible to memory. Finding them staunch in the faith,   
   Firmilian passed upon them the sentence of death. As soon as the   
   verdict had been pronounced, Porphyrius, a gifted young scholar whom   
   Pamphilus had cherished as a son, boldly asked the judge for   
   permission to bury his master’s body.   
      
   Firmilian inquired if he were also a Christian, and upon receiving an   
   answer in the affirmative directed that he should be delivered to the   
   torturers. Although his flesh was torn to the bone and his vital   
   organs were exposed, the youth never uttered a groan. He ended his   
   martyrdom by slow fire, invoking the name of Jesus. After him a   
   Cappadocian named Seleucus, who brought news of the triumph of   
   Porphyrius and applauded his constancy, was condemned to be   
   decapitated with the rest. So infuriated was the tyrant that even his   
   own household was not spared for, having been informed that his   
   favourite servant, the aged Theodulus, was a Christian and had   
   embraced one of the martyrs, he had him crucified forthwith. That same   
   evening, for a similar offence, a catechumen named Julian was burnt at   
   a slow fire. The other confessors, Pamphilus, Paul, Valens and   
   Seleucus, were beheaded. Their bodies, which were thrown out but left   
   untouched by the wild beasts, were afterwards rescued and buried by   
   the Christians.   
      
   The principal source is Eusebius, De Martyribus Palaestinae. The Greek   
   text of the later and fuller recension was first edited in the   
   Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvi (1897), pp. 113-139....   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   “Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but   
   stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards   
   you will honour your patience.”   
   --Saint John Climacus   
      
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   All things whatsoever that they command you, observe and do.--Matt.   
   23:3  –  June: Obedience   
      
   8. Would you know who are true monks? Those who by mortification have   
   brought their will under such control that they no longer have any   
   wish except to obey the precepts and counsels of their Superior.   
   --St. Fulgentius   
      
   St. Francis once gave the blessed Egidius full freedom to choose   
   whatever province or monastery he might prefer as a place of   
   residence. After four days of this liberty, Egidius was surprised at   
   finding himself much troubled in mind. Then returning to the Saint, he   
   earnestly entreated him to fix his abode for life, for he knew that   
   this liberty would banish all peace from his soul.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days   
   I will raise it up. The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this   
   temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But he   
   spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen again from   
   the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they believed   
   the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said.  (John 2:19-22)   
      
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)