Do you know of any Catholic saints that we
should know about? How is their life inspiring
to you? Is there someone from the body of Christ's communion of saints that you would like to write about? Someone from history or someone that you personally know?
I've never read much about the saints who lived in the desert. I could have. There are numerous books about them and about their wisdom, gathered in the desert and in the caves.
ReplyDeleteSomehow they fascinate me. I know that I romanticize the aloneness a bit. And their life must have been difficult - just finding food and living on so little.
Yet that austerity, that privation, that simplicity calls to me. I'm not sure what it means or how my life will become simpler. I don't know what I will set aside. But someday it will and I will be ready on some level. (A spiritual bucket list)
Pastor Larry Morris
Faithful Witness
ReplyDeleteDietrich Bonhoeffer d.9 April 1945
[Festal Song]
Your people were forlorn; they had no hope brought near.
A pastor, scholar, preacher dear took away every fear.
Your peace his great delight, though war around him roiled,
He worked to bring faiths truth to light, for this he sweat and toiled.
Young pastors he taught well, beneath oppression’s thumb,
He helped bright minds find answers true to doubt did not succumb.
To the States he made trips, a dose of freedom’s light,
He could not stay away from home, lived out his destined plight.
God’s Gospel his great delight, in non-religious words,
Bring truth to all, his joyful goal, love, justice for him verbs.
Resistance every day a wrestling match to wage,
Non-violence at his heart of hearts, God’s Spirit to engage;
His final naked walk brought him to gallows high.
Without hesitation he did smile, salvation’s promise nigh.
The Rev. Ronald Allen Melver, M.Div.
11 March 2014
Saint Mildred
ReplyDeleteby Marlene Obie
I first met this Saint of Hospitality as the mother of my friend, while we were in high school, and I later married Mildred's husband's brother. She was one of my "other" mothers, an older sister and a friend whom I admired.
Through tough times and better times, she was always true to who she was (a daughter from a Montana farm family where money was scarce), a loving and practical woman who helped her husband build a lucrative business from meager beginnings. She delighted in her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews.. Acts of kindness were not random for her; they were the normal fabric of her being.
Her homes were always open to family and friends; the driveway always full of cars of those who just dropped by day or evening. Providing a meal or at least some refreshments was a "given" and there was always something to amuse the children.. Making people comfortable just being around her was her style, whether at home or traveling to "she never knew where" her husband's wandering curiosity led them. She was a rock of reason to her family, even though she might not be up on it's latest deviations.
I could write for hours about her, and it wouldn't be enough. Although she left this life this last Fall, she left us a legacy of doing what you can with what you've got to put others at ease. I'm thankful for knowing Mildred, a saint of hospitality.