Almighty and eternal God,
You have promised that there will someday be but one fold and one Shepherd.
Hasten that day, we pray You,
in Your most merciful kindness and generosity.
Pour the light of Your grace
into the minds of our non-Catholic friends
so that they may see the truth,
and fully realize that the truth is one and undivided.
Give them also the strength of will
needed to follow in the direction of the light You give them.
Let us, their neighbors and …
Today is the Memorial of St. Blaise. St. Blaise was the Bishop of Sebastia in Armenia, which is a city located midway between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Blaise lived during the early fourth century, and while Christianity was tolerated in Armenia, he and other Christians suffered tremendous persecution.
Under threat of death, Blaise was forced from his episcopal seat into hiding and solitude in the wilderness. When he was eventually discovered praying in his cave, he was hauled off to prison. As the story goes, while Blaise was in prison a mother and her son visited him. The child had a fish bone lodged in his throat, but at Blaise’s command, the child was able to expel the bone and received healing.
Blaise was eventually challenged by the local Roman governor to renounce Christianity and faith in Jesus. When he refused, he was tortured, hung from a tree, and eventually beheaded. Some of the lore surrounding St. Blaise is that he was tortured and flayed with the pins from a wool comb, which as it sounds, is a special comb used on animal wool as it is prepared for use in fabrics.
As a Christian devotion, Blaise embodied the verse, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). Blaise died for his faith in Jesus and gave witness to those whom he served as bishop. In this way, we honor his sacrifice today.
As a particular devotion, today we honor and remember Blaise as patron for those suffering from illnesses of the throat and the patron of wool combers. No ailment is too small for a particular intercessor. No profession is too specific for a particular intercessor.
Our Church has a patron, intercessor or devotional for practically every aspect of life. The abundance of intercessors should remind us that all aspects of our lives should be prayed over and oriented toward sanctification. Think of an aspect of your life that makes you unique: your profession, interests, appearance, or geography. There’s a particular intercessor for you. Take some time today to find out who a specific intercessor may be for your life.
Today especially though, let us also pray for those who are being persecuted for their Christian faith, for those suffering from throat ailments, and for those who still comb sheep. St. Blaise, pray for us!
Elizabeth Tomlin is the author of Joyful Momentum: Building and Sustaining Vibrant Women’s Groups and contributing author to the Ave Prayer Book for Catholic Mothers. She is General Counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Elizabeth is an Army wife and mother of three and currently lives in the DC area. She blogs at JoyfulMomentum.org or @elizabethannetomlin on social media.
Feature Image Credit: ulleo, https://pixabay.com/photos/parish-church-of-st-blaise-fulda-2892750/
Saint Blaise was the bishop of Sebastea and a doctor. The first known record of the saint’s life comes from the medical writings of AĂ«tius Amidenus, where he is recorded as helping with patients suffering from objects stuck in their throat. Many of the miraculous aspects of St. BlaiseÂ?s life are written of 400 years after his martyrdom in the Â?Acts of St. Blaise.Â?
Saint Blaise is believed to begin as a healer then, eventually, became a “physician of souls.” He then retired to a cave, where he …
Lord, You invite all who are burdened to come to You. Allow your healing hand to heal me. Touch my soul with Your compassion for others. Touch my heart with Your courage and infinite love for all. Touch my mind with Your wisdom, that my mouth may always proclaim Your praise. Teach me to reach out to You in my need, and help me to lead others to You by my example. Most loving Heart of Jesus, bring me health in body and spirit that I may serve You with all my strength. Touch gently this life …
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Where in your life is Jesus speaking that to you? With this freedom from fear, let’s take a look at today’s readings. The main theme today is feeling a parent’s heartbreak over their child. Regardless of where you personally stand in that scenario, parent or child, these stories are relevant to us all. We have the opportunity to open our hearts and see our lives reflected in these stories. But before we continue, I think it is important to address why we might put ourselves in them. In the book of Revelations, we hear that “the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10). What does that mean for you and me? In short, this testimony of what Jesus did in their lives breathes prophetic truth into our lives, into my life. In fact, that is why our Scriptures are, “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12) as the Holy Spirit connects our lives to the story of salvation, God stirs faith in our hearts that He can do in my life what He did then. I encourage you to read on with the simple truth that Jesus loved these people, healed these people, and this is their testimony. He did it for them, so He can do it for you and me.
The First Reading is the end of a tragic story in the later years of David. We know this because of two main reasons: his son is old enough to have started a revolt against him, and his army has asked him not to fight. This part of the story has always brought me to tears. Every time that I read, “He said as he wept, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!” I hear the heart cry of my heavenly Father over me for the times I chose fear, sin, and rebellion.
The Gospel opens with a man begging Jesus to heal his daughter and shortly after, we hear that his daughter is not just sick but dead. This makes healing problematic, it’s one thing to heal disease, but another to bring someone back from the dead. But how does Jesus respond, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” A woman who had suffered for twelve years with hemorrhages came onto the scene. But she should not have. Her culture, and in fact her religion, forbid her from being near or making contact with healthy people since she was bleeding and that made her unclean, it made her isolated. Yet she had the courage to say, “if I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” She had that faith even after twelve years of isolation and suffering. She wasn’t just cured and remained hidden from Jesus, she was recognized and known. She was publicly brought back into the community and called ‘daughter’ by God.
But do not worry, Jesus did not say, ‘I used my one miracle for today, that’s all you people get.’ He traveled on to Jairus’s house, the man whose daughter had just died. We get to see a stark contrast between the woman who was named daughter and the family that ridicules Jesus. But He did not give up but rather sent them away. They lost their chance to witness the girl being brought back to life. It makes me wonder, how many times have I been filled with doubt and was not allowed to witness a miracle happen in my life.
I want to leave you with one last thought on these readings: God shows that He knows and walks with us in our pain and He wants to bless us. He wants to reaffirm that we are His children, even when we rebel, even when we are the outcast. May Jesus bless you!
Featured Image Credit: pelau, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/4472-solo-tocando-manto-sere-sanada
Arthur Richardson is married to his wonderful wife, Gabby Richardson. They will be married for two years this January! Most of his work experience is in ministry. He was a retreat missionary in Wisconsin for two years and a youth minister for three years. He is now the Web Project Manager here at Diocesan, and loves it!
St. Joan de Lestonnac was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1556. She married at the age of seventeen. The happy marriage produced four children, but her husband died suddenly in 1597. After her children were raised, she entered the Cistercian monastery at Toulouse. Joan was forced to leave the Cistercians when she became afflicted with poor health. She returned to Bordeaux with the idea of forming a new congregation, and several young girls joined her as novices. They ministered to victims of a …
Bless, O Lord, these new fruits of the vine which Thou hast brought to maturity by the dew of heaven, by plentiful rains, and by tranquil and favorable weather. Thou hast given us this fruit for our use that we may receive it with thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.
I love St Brigid! An abbess and the only female Patron Saint of Ireland, she is also known as “Mary of the Gael” or the “Mother Saint of Ireland.” Founder of one of the first monasteries in Ireland and whose relics shared a triple tomb, with St. Patrick and St. Columbkille in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.
The fact that she was born in 453 and died in 523 at 70 years old was a miracle itself for the fifth century. Her father was a Pagan, a Leinster Chieftain who sold her Christian mother and baby Brigid into slavery to a Druid. She was returned to her father when she was ten years old where Brigid’s charitable nature soon had her donating her father’s possessions to any who needed them. Her father was not amused and tried selling Brigid to the King of Leinster. While she was there, she gave the King’s jeweled sword to a beggar. The King of Leinster, a Christian, convinced her Father to grant her freedom saying “Her merit before God is greater than ours.” This same King granted her land to build Kildare Abbey (Cill-Dara or Church of the Oak) after performing her first miracle by asking him to give her as much land as her cloak would cover which billowed out over several acres.
It’s been almost four years since I was in Ireland with a wonderful group from St. Anthony’s in Grand Rapids. Visiting one of St Brigid’s wells was not on our itinerary, but our driver and tour guide happily obliged. This well, south of the Cliffs of Moher, left me awestruck as I comprehended what I was seeing. The Druid tree or fairy tree is adorned with bits of paper and ribbon filled with prayers and intentions. The well and grotto are filled with photos and rosaries of loved ones in need of healing and the random clotheslines are filled with billowing sheets blowing into the small cemetery behind it. This little roadside gem was a homage of her life from Pagan roots to Druid slave, from Abbess to Saint. This is a timeless place, a natural shrine of devotion and faith of her culture.
From spiritual obscurity to beloved Saint, Brigid of Kildare continues to comfort and inspire all of us on our personal spiritual journeys.
Kay Kunz is the Accounts Manager at Diocesan. She is a mother of two and grandmother of five. Living on her family’s centennial farm surrounded by nature, creatures great and small, wild and tame, Kay and her husband are in perpetual restoration mode. When she is not crunching numbers or helping churches with bookkeeping issues, you’ll more than likely find her curled up with a book and a cup of coffee. Inspired by St. Brigid of Kildare, not just because she is the patron saint of chicken farmers and turning water into beer, but her simple pastoral life of finding peace in nature.
Feature Image Credit: By Author
Saint Brigid was born Brigit, and shares a name with a Celtic goddess from whom many legends and folk customs are associated.
There is much debate over her birthparents, but it is widely believed her mother was Brocca, a Christian baptized by Saint Patrick, and her father was Dubthach, a Leinster chieftain. Brocca was a slave, therefore Brigid was born into slavery.
When Dubthach’s wife discovered Brocca was pregnant, she was sold to a Druid landowner. It is not clear if Brocca was unable to …
Almighty and Eternal God,
You are the everlasting health of those who believe in You.
Hear us for Your sick servant (N…)
for whom we implore the aid of Your tender mercy,
that being restored to bodily health,
he (she) may give thanks to You in Your Church.
Through Christ our Lord.