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September 18
Joseph of Cupertino, George MacDonald, and Edward Bouverie Pusey
David Barnhart
September 18, 2025
On this day in 1977, the Voyager 1 space probe took the first photograph of the moon and Earth together.
Today is also the feast day of Saint Joseph of Cupertino. He was considered “slow” by his family and village. After failing at being a shoemaker, he was rejected as a supplicant first by the Franciscan monks and then by the Capuchins. He resolved to be a servant for the Franciscans, but quickly proved his devotion and ability. When he was being examined for admission as a deacon, he performed poorly until his examiner said, “Just tell me what you DO know,” and then he amazed his listeners with his answers. It was said that when he prayed, he levitated, and so he is the patron saint of pilots as well as people with mental disabilities. He is a reminder that people who need accommodations for disabilities are a channel of grace for everyone around them.
Today in 1905, George MacDonald died. MacDonald was a Scottish minister, author, and poet who greatly influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkein.
Today is the Feast Day, in the Episcopal Church, of Edward Bouverie Pusey, who died in 1882. He was part of the Oxford Movement that advocated, among other things, a closer relationship with Roman Catholic tradition and sacrament.
Reflection:
On the death of Charles Dodgson’s (Lewis Carroll’s) wife, Edward Pusey wrote to him in a letter:
I have often thought, since I had to think of this, how, in all adversity, what God takes away He may give us back with increase. One cannot think that any holy earthly love will cease, when we shall "be like the Angels of God in Heaven." Love here must shadow our love there, deeper because spiritual, without any alloy from our sinful nature, and in the fulness of the love of God. But as we grow here by God's grace will be our capacity for endless love.
In The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald wrote:
“We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary.'
What is that, grandmother?'
To understand other people.'
Yes, grandmother. I must be fair - for if I'm not fair to other people, I'm not worth being understood myself. I see.”
In The Princess and Curdie, he wrote:
“There is this difference between the growth of some human beings and that of others: in the one case it is a continuous dying, in the other a continuous resurrection.”
Prayer: Author of Life, help us to practice continuous resurrection. Amen.