Tomorrow may never come

 Don't put off conversion - tomorrow may never come

   "God is not now so long-suffering in putting up with you that He
will fail to be just in punishing. Do not say then: 'Tomorrow I shall
be converted, tomorrow I shall please God, and all that I shall have
done today and yesterday will be forgiven me.' What you say is true:
God has promised forgiveness if you turn back to Him. But what He has
not promised is that you will have tomorrow in which to achieve your conversion."
--St. Augustine--(excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 144,11)

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March 18th - Saint Edward the Martyr
Also known as
    • Edward II
Memorial
    • 18 March
    • 20 June (translation of relics)

d. 979
ST EDWARD was the son of King Edgar, sovereign of all the English, by
his first wife, Ethelfleda, who did not long survive the birth of her
son; he was baptized by St. Dunstan, then archbishop of Canterbury.
After Edgar’s death a party sought to set aside Edward in favour of
Ethelred, a boy hardly ten years old, who was Edgar’s son by his
second queen, Elfrida. Edward himself was but a youth when he came to
the throne, and his reign lasted a brief 3 years. The guidance of St.
Dunstan was unable to commend him to the disaffected thegns, for which
the young king’s violent temper was perhaps partly responsible. The chroniclers, who all agreed that he was murdered, are not in accord as
to the actual perpetrator of the deed, but William of Malmesbury
claims to describe the crime in detail. He tells us that, from the
moment of Edward’s accession, his stepmother had sought an opportunity
to slay him. One day, after hunting in Dorsetshire, the king, who was
weary and wished to see his little stepbrother, of whom he was fond,
determined to visit Corfe Castle, the residence of Elfrida, which was
close at hand. Apprised of his arrival, the queen went out to meet him
and noticed that he was alone, having outstripped his companions and attendants. She feigned pleasure at seeing him and ordered a cup to be
brought to allay his thirst. As he drank, Elfrida made a sign to one
of her servants, who stabbed the young king with a dagger. Although
Edward immediately set spurs to his horse and tried to regain his
escort, he slipped from the saddle, his foot caught in the stirrup,
and he was dragged along till he died.

 “This year”, says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under 979, “was King
Edward slain at eventide at Corfe-gate, and was buried at Wareham
without any kind of kingly honours.” William of Malmesbury says that
Elfrida had his body thrown into a marsh, thinking thus to dispose of
it, but a pillar of light caused it to be discovered, and it was taken
up and buried in the church at Wareham. His relics were afterwards
removed to Shaftesbury. Elfrida herself was in the end seized with
remorse for her crime and, retiring from the world, she built the
monasteries of Amesbury and Wherwell, in the latter of which she died.

The earliest account of the murder attributes it to Ethelred’s
retainers. There is no good evidence for Queen Elfrida’s alleged part
in it, which is not mentioned till over a hundred years after the
event. Edward was a martyr only in the broad sense of one who suffers
an unjust death, but his cultus was considerable, encouraged by the
miracles reported from his tomb at Shaftesbury and his feast is still
observed in the diocese of Plymouth.

Our principal authorities are William of Malmesbury, Florence of
Worcester, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Osbern the hagiographer and,
earliest of all, the author of the Life of St. Oswald in the
Historians of the Church of York (Rolls Series), vol. i, pp. 448-452.
See also F.M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (1943), pp. 366-369; and particularly K. M. Wilson, Lost Literature of Medieval England (1952),
pp. 111-112.

Saint Quote:
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross
that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. He has
blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it
with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage
and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to
you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.
--Saint Francis de Sales

Bible Quote:
And stretch out thy hand to the poor, that thy expiation and thy
blessing may be perfected.  A gift hath grace in the sight of all the
living, and restrain not grace from the dead.  Be not wanting in
comforting them that weep, and walk with them that mourn.  Be not slow
to visit the sick: for by these things thou shalt be confirmed in love.
In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never
sin.  [Sirach 7: 36 40]  DRB

<><><><>
Lent is a good time for us to renew our pledge to walk along his Way
and to ask for a deep level of faith to do so.

    The seven Signs in John are:
1. The changing of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana (2:1-11)
2. The healing of the royal official’s son (4:46-54)
3. The healing of a man who is crippled at the Bethesda pool (5:1-18)
4. Feeding of the 5,000 (6:1-15)
5. Jesus walking on the water (6:16-21)
6. Healing of the man born blind (9:1-41)
7. The raising of Lazarus (11:1-44

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