Today September 29

So much we could celebrate today what with Gabriel AND Raphael joining great St. Michael on this his day, Michaelmas Day. But we are going to go with the incomparable Richard Rolle(1300 - 1349), mystic and "father of English literature"; the fact that he was not actually even canonized a minor one!

He was definitely an introvert -- some would say to a fault -- but he was in always "on fire" for the love of God. He was a Latin and English scholar, philosopher, Oxford student (but not a graduate), theologian (I like him already), and a practical man (he operated a small ferryboat and ran a small farm at various times). And he was a man with a plan, a theory, if you will. An entirely too down-to-earth theory for the likes of Walter Hilton and the author of Cloud of Unknowing. He felt that a soul really wrapped up in contemplation should be able to experience its psychosomatic effects -- right here and now, not just in heaven -- effects like heavenly music and bodily heat. Such things have happened and do happen to people caught up in prayer, as he sought to do continually, or at least often. And though he was kind of a solitary man, he was no recluse -- many could and did come to him for alms, conversation and advice.

He was definitely his own man. He didn't overemphasize penance, and for that I think he fell out of favor with future spiritual guides and writers as a "lightweight." But he wasn't. He knew how difficult it was to master the greedy and animal passions, but he did it and he thanked God for it. He avoided fornication -- he lived a chaste life -- and he was very anti-materialistic, though he was comfortable -- not well-off necessarily, but not poor either. He is venerated in England and miracles attended both his life and his gravesite. Richard Rolle, pray for us.