Monday, October 12, 2015

Project BLACK MAMBA

Today we remember Saint Edwin of Northumbria (c. 586-633, King Edwin), martyred in battle against the pagan king Penda of Mercia: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: St. Edwin was baptized by St. Paulinus of York (10 October): Wayback Machine.

We also remember Saint Wilfrid of York (c. 634-c. 709), bishop: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Personal Reading
The Book of Wisdom, chapters nine & ten.

Mass Readings
The Letter to the Romans, chapter one, verses one thru seven;
Psalm Ninety-eight, verses one(b) thru four;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter eleven, verses twenty-nine thru thirty-two.

Operation AXIOM
Five hundred twenty-three years ago to the day, 12 October 1492, Christopher Columbus & his expedition reached the New World, making landfall somewhere in the Bahamas. Lief Erikson Day was observed on 9 October, & the Norse did indeed reach North America almost five hundred years before Columbus's small squadron of Spanish sailing ships, but their efforts at colonization were for naught & remained unknown to the wider world. Columbus's discovery introduced this brave new world to the ancient trio of Europe, Africa, & Asia, forever altering the course of history. The world has been shaped for five centuries by the conquest, colonization, Christianization, & eventual independence of myriad nations throughout the Caribbean, North America, & South America. It is all but impossible to conceive what the world would look like in 2015 had not Columbus established contact 'twixt the Old World & the New. I am an America & a Knight of Columbus. I owe my whole existence, generations of my family before me, to the Admiral of the Ocean Sea's voyages of discovery. Christopher Columbus discovered the New World on 12 October 1942, five hundred twenty-three years ago today.

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