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Post by Dr. Robert Gotcher on Jun 24, 2021 19:25:01 GMT
Who is your special saint? Why?
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Post by Rene Rillorta on Jun 14, 2023 4:50:53 GMT
St. Joseph is my special saint, he never had any recorded words in the Gospels but He in a sense spoke loudly with his actions. I believe that in my life, I did not pick a special saint but that by God's providence I am specially picked by a saint. In my pre-teens, I grew up in a community with a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, it is where I attended Sunday masses as a young boy, where I received my first communion, where I received my catechism, and where I learned to be an altar server, which gave me appreciation and love for mass.
When my family moved to a new town when I was in my teens, the center of our subdivision also had a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph. It is there that I attended Sunday masses, became part of the choir, a mass reader, and a member of the Legion of Mary.
St. Joseph in his humility, never introduced himself to me until I was in my 20's when finally, our community held public Novena to St. Joseph which is 9 consecutive days of prayers leading to May 1st which was celebrated as our Town Feast in honor of St. Joseph.
it is in that little booklet of novena prayers to St. Joseph that I came to know him and his great attributes that has become my inspiration to emulate him.
In that booklet, he was described as a man of faith, and a just man.
He was described as a man who had faith trust and hope in God as was shown in his acceptance to the salvific message of God through his dream to take Mary as his wife ( Mt 1:20-24 ). He had faith in God's providence and protection when He migrated with Mary and little Jesus to Egypt ( Mt 2: 13-15 ) St Joseph lived a pure and chaste life, he is represented in his images as a man holding a stem of Lilies. It can be deduced that he is pure and chaste as he lived with and protected the most pure Jesus and Mary. The novena described St Joseph also as a humble, prudent, patient and obedient man of God.
This novena to St Joseph gave me a blessing of inspiration to be like him specially in the areas of humility, obedience, prudence, forbearance, simplicity and purity. All very important traits that I need, IF I am to serve as a deacon, or even as a lay person, and more so in my aspiration towards sanctity.
It is interesting to note that St Catherine said she had not asked St Joseph for anything that she has not received. I cannot sadly recall of any specific answered petitions that I asked in those Novena's to St Joseph. But reciting and meditating on those prayers that I still do up to now is and has always been a great blessing in itself for me. My devotion to St Joseph is one of my pillars in life. It is my bedrock of comfort in the midst of difficulties of life. If I am to become like St Andre' Basset or St Catharine of Sienna, who were known to be great devotees of St Joseph. That would be more than enough for me.
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Post by johnvanhecke on Jun 20, 2023 1:54:02 GMT
Do I have to have only one? God made so many saints. Some I feel close to when I need help - St. Patrick is the patron saint of Engineers. And he's Irish!! He is special to me. Saint Joseph is the patron of Fathers, Workers, husbands (and more). He is special to me when I'm looking for intercession and help in matters regarding my children and my wife. St. Anthony - well even my pagan friend holds St. Anthony special when looking for things. How can that be? I keep asking St. Anthony to find a way to God for my friend. St. Damien, whom I just studied up on for another class has become special to me. I am like him in some ways and so much want to be like him in other ways. He was such a man of charity. He is special to me when I approach something (like the Diaconate) where I feel not-quite-ready but I feel I ought to say "yes". St. Therese the little flower is special to me. Alicia and I accepted her desire to become patron saint to one of our girls - yes I really feel she chose Angela Therese rather than us randomly choosing the name. And I embrace her little way. It's really feels so right - God loves us - we need to love him in every, possible, little, and big ways. St. Thomas Aquinas is special to me. I picked him for a kindred spirit and an intercessor (by being a confirmation saint) based on a very little bit of knowledge. And my relationship with him has continued to grow and blossom. I not only learned more about him but learned so much from him and his works. His penetrating and vast intellect is inspiring and what he did with it is such a gift of knowledge. But further to have the stories of his humility ("I would rather believe that pigs can fly than believe that my brethren could lie."), of absolute clarity of purpose ("You have written well of me, Thomas; what reward would you have?” Thomas would reply, “Nothing but yourself, Lord.” ) and of a glimpse of true vision ("All I have written is as straw."). And to hand down hymns so rich and beautiful we still sing them daily within the Church. Yeah. St. Thomas is very special to me. And there are so many others I've met and walked with for a time. I can't wait to meet them one day. And I am prepared to be amazed at all the help they have given me in return for simply asking a few times, "St. n, pray for us." and thinking about them.
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Post by Chris Lauterbach on Jun 20, 2023 18:31:57 GMT
I love St Theresa of Avila. I appreciate how she is very open about her struggles with what God is calling her to write and meditate on. When I read Interior Castle, while the subject matter is sometimes hard to understand, her way of writing stands out to me. St Theresa reminds me of myself on certain levels. The constant question of what is God asking of me. I am somewhat comforted by the fact that someone as close to God as she was, that she still was not always sure of what God wanted her to do. Her humility, abandonment and obedience allowed God to guide her to speak to all of us, not just the sisters in the convent.
I also became interested in her when I began this Aspirancy, because of her levels of prayer. I spent alot of my prayer time talking, but I did very little listening. Reading about her levels of prayer and her ability to listen to God inspired me to do more listening and less talking. St Theresa helped me to enjoy Adoration. Sitting in quiet and letting God work through me on my path to discernment.
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jan
New Member
Posts: 9
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Post by jan on Jun 21, 2023 10:32:56 GMT
Francis de Sales. A man who loved his spiritual "enemies" because he first loved God. Coming into the Church from a Calvinist-tinged background, Francis' persistent work for the Genevans' conversion was a great inspiration to me. There was more than a little bit of "I'm gonna do the same", a prodding of my pugnacity in things spiritual. I am no de Sales, but his persistence and faith are inspiring.
His insistence on love has been helpful as well. There is an avuncular quality to his writing, a gentle insistence that betrays his strident love and defense of the truth. That gentle insistence on love as the guide is not a feminine or effete quality, however. It is a quality that suggests the love of St Joseph: manly, steady, quiet, uncomplaining, concealed. It has a martial sense about it without the noise and color of battle. His maxim "Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself" suggests this quiet steady love. This is prob where I need a good deal of help, a "growing edge" as they say. That pairing of patience and love is not so well developed in me: I can be patient but not always out of love, it is something I know I have to do; conversely, I act out of love, but I am often impatient about the end of my action and what I expect of the fruit of that love. Like John suggests above, God may have encouraged Francis de Sales to select me as my confirmation saint, rather than the other way around like I sometimes think.
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Post by Tom Brefka on Jun 21, 2023 20:48:17 GMT
St. Anthony of Padua holds a special place for my family. My wife has worked as a teacher at St. Anthony School for over 25 years and I'm sure we have prayed to St. Anthony many more times than to any other saint throughout our time together. The ability to lose things is great in our family and sometimes just taking the time to say a prayer to St. Anthony clears my mind and I can relax and retrace steps or recall where I saw things last. It is amazing the calming sense that comes about with praying to St. Anthony. "O Sweet Jesus: what is there sweeter than Thee? Sweet is Thy memory, sweeter than that of honey or any other object. Thy very name is a Name of Sweetness."-St. Anthony
St. Anthony is the patron saint of many things including expectant mothers, the elderly, and lose articles. My prayer to St. Anthony is often a simple prayer of petition: St. Anthony help me...
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