Reflection on the Readings for Today's Feast of All Saints

"He said to me, 'These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made the white in the Blood of the Lamb.' " (Revelation 7:14)

"Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2)

"Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in Heaven." (Matthew 5: 10-12)

These three Scripture passages come from the three readings for today's Feast of All Saints'. With so much causing a great divide in our country today, I found much hope & promise in these readings.

Every day, we are inundated with reports about the many attacks on religious freedom, Obama-"care" (I place care in quotes, but I don't believe he cares one iota for what happens to those who don't agree w/ him), Common Core Standards indoctrinating the youth in our country's schools, & so much more. I don't need to go into detail on any of these because you can Google (or whatever search engine you use) to find ample information on each one. (I encourage you to do so, esp. w/ the upcoming election. Be an informed voter!)

It can be so easy to become overwhelmed by all these attacks on our faith & human dignity. What gets me through it all is the hope in God's promises to His people. He never said it would be easy to follow Him. However, He has promised us everlasting peace & joy in His Heavenly Kingdom.

We have only to look at the saints who've gone before us. Through their faith & perseverance, they lead by example of what it is to follow Christ. Even through pain & suffering or facing persecution & death, they never turned away from God & His promises.

* St. Stephen...Stoned to death for his faith, he was the first marytr.
* St. Lawrence...a martyr w/ a sense of humor. While placed on a gridiron by the Romans, it's been said that he cried out, "Turn me over for I think I'm done on this side."
* St. Joan of Arc...burned at the stake by the British for saving her country (France)
* St. Dorothy...After her parents had been martyred, the soldiers came for her. Several of those put in place to encourage her to turn from God were converted themselves due to the strength & example of her faith. 
* St. Isaac Jogues... missionary to the Indians, martyred by tomahawk & scalping
* St. Paul Miki & companions...Some three & a half centuries before the atomic bomb hit Nagasaki Japan, they were crucified on a hill for teaching the doctrine of Christ, even from their crosses.
* St. Gianna Beretta Molla...(a modern saint) Faced w/ cancer during her fourth pregnancy, she chose not to abort her baby to save herself. Several days after her baby was born, St. Gianna died.

Faith and Perseverance! 
These saints & so many others have become such wonderful examples for us to follow. 

I encourage you, today & throughout the month of November, to learn more about the many saints of our Faith. Call upon them to intercede for you, your family, your friends, & your country. There are patron saints for so many things. 

Do you have a love of music? Ask St. Cecilia to pray for you. 
Do you have an urge to help the poor? Ask for St. Francis & St. Clare to intercede. 
Do your eyes bother you? Ask for St. Lucy's prayers. 
Not sure of who to go to? Again, use your favorite search engine & type in "Patron saint of (insert needs here)".

No, this is NOT worshiping them! We know that we can only worship God. Praying for a saint's intercession is just like asking a friend to pray for you. 

So, today, on this special Feast of All Saints, I pray you may find peace & joy through the intercession of our dear friends in Heaven!

Feast of St. Vincent de Paul (2nd post for today)

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul. He was born into a poor family in the late 1500s. While a young priest, he was captured by pirates & sold into slavery. After two years, he converted his last master & was set free.

Throughout the rest of his life, he became a trusted advisor to French royalty & was dedicated to helping the poor. He helped them find jobs, food, & clothing. He founded the Daughters of Charity, who helped gather money & nurse the sick. He also helped in building homes for those who were sick, aged, & abandoned.

This past Sunday, I stayed home from church because I had a splitting headache & The Saint was also not feeling great. While home, I decided to watch Monsieur Vincent, a 1947 movie about St. Vincent de Paul's work w/ the poor & the struggles he faced in trying to bring the poor & royalty together.

During one scene, he was conferring w/ a group of society's ladies who felt he was causing more trouble. In their minds, he caused more poor people to come to Paris & in turn, caused more crime & problems. He had found a baby outside a church, left to die, & none of the women were willing to take the child in because he had been born in sin.

Monsieur Vincent replied, "When God wants someone to die to pay for sin, He sends His Son."

Despite their shame, they continued to refuse helping him & were very judgmental towards the poor. They tried to encourage him to stop all his work w/ the poor because it was causing problems in their society & going against the judges of the day. I LOVE his response to them:

"When I appear in front of my only Judge, do you think I'll tell Him, 'I witnessed crimes but didn't want to interfere and get in trouble with the local institutions and the judges who allow those crimes."

Now, I don't know for sure if St. Vincent de Paul actually said the above mentioned quotes, but they are still powerful to me.

To the day he died, at the age of 84, he continued to work for the poor & felt that he'd never done enough in his life. As one can see to this day, his work continues through The St. Vincent de Paul Society. Just two weekends ago, our parish had a truck in the parking lot for parishioners to leave their donations of clothing, household items, toiletries, & more.

There will always be poor among us. It is our Christian duty to help those less fortunate than ourselves, no matter what our status may be in life. If everyone did just a little bit, think of how big that assistance would be.

St. Vincent, patron of all charitable associations and father of those who are in misery, come to our assistance. Obtain from Our Lord help for the poor, relief for the infirm, consolation for the afflicted, protection for the abandoned, a spirit of generosity for the rich, grace of conversion for sinners, zeal for priests, peace for the Church, tranquility and order for all nations, and salvation for them all. May we be united in the life to come, by your intercession, and experience joy, gladness, and everlasting happiness. Amen.

The Princess Received Her Rose from St. Therese of Liseux

Last Friday was the Feast of St. Therese of Liseux. For school, we had a lesson about her including reading about her life & a scrapbook-type craft. (By the end of the school year, each of the munchkins will have their own handmade saint book.) We did our lesson on Thursday because we had plans to go to Wright Patterson Air Force Museum in Dayton w/ my parents, my sister, & her family on Friday.

On Friday, we decided to meet at our house & head to Dayton in two vans. My parents arrived first...bringing along a few things (as parents like to do!) My mom handed The Princess a small lap quilt that belonged to my great aunt when she was in a nursing home. After she died, my mom kept it then thought The Princess might like it. Because I was busy getting last minute things together, I didn't really take more than a glance at the quilt.

When we got home, she brought the quilt over to me so that I could see it. The first thing I noticed was the large pink rose in one of the squares. There were other flowers on the quilt, but it was the only square of its kind. Immediately I reminded her of what St. Therese said about sending a shower of roses from Heaven. She was absolutely thrilled! I told her that if she wanted, she could have St. Therese be her patron saint & she said, "YES!" w/ a big grin on her face. She slept under that quilt all that night.

And BTW - my great aunt's name? ROSE. She'd been ill as a child & her mind never grew beyond that of a young child. We always called her Rosie & she was an absolute sweetheart. We have a picture from the funeral home of The Prophet (about age 3) kneeling in front of her casket, with his eyes closed in prayer. The Archangel (about 18 months) is standing on the kneeler, next to The Prophet.