August 14th,

2005, Memorial of St. Maximilian Colby, priest, and martyr.

A reading from the book of Joshua.

The Lord said to Joshua,

Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,

that they may know I am with you, as I was with Moses.

Now command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to come to a halt in the Jordan

when you reach the edge of the waters.

So Joshua said to the children of Israel,

Come here and listen to the words of the Lord, your God. This is how you will know

that there is a living God in your midst, who at your approach will dispossess the Canaanites.

The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of the whole earth will proceed you into the Jordan.

When the souls of the feet of the priests carrying the Ark of

the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, touch the water of the Jordan, it will cease to flow,

for the water flowing down from upstream will halt in a solid bank. The people struck their tents

to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the

ark of the covenant ahead of them. No sooner had these priestly bearers of the ark waded

into the waters at the edge of the Jordan, which overflows all its banks during the entire

season of the harvest, then the waters flowing from upstream halted,

backing up in a solid mass for a very great distance indeed

from Adam, a city in the direction of Zarathan,

while those flowing downstream toward the salt sea of the Araba disappeared entirely.

...