Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

[odhiambo]

Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo,
pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Timothy, pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Saint Rose of Lima.
Memorial 23 rd August.

Take a moment to remember this saint.
Born in Lima Peru, many years ago to parents with the lovely sounding names of Gaspar de Flores, and Maria d'Olivia.
Her own name was just as lovely, Isabel Flores de Olivia. From all accounts she was a lovely baby.
So how did she come by the name of Rose?
Accounts vary.  Some say she was called Rose simply because of her beautiful complexion but others differ. The story goes that when Isabel was three months old, she was in her cradle, her mom and several other women were also around when suddenly, a beautiful rose appeared in the air close to the baby. It gently touched the baby's cheek and just as suddenly, it vanished!
From then on Maria called her baby Rose.
Rose was a beautiful girl, inside and out. She made Saint Catherine of Siena her model.
At the age of 15, she received the habit of the Third Order of the Dominicans.
Rose lived  humbly at home. Her life was , filled with  penance, charity for the sick and contemplative prayer.
She did not live very long, as she died in her early thirties.
When she was canonized by Pope Clement in 1671, she became the first canonized saint of the Americas.
Saint Rose of Lima,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Reading about this saint, I was struck by how much "out of the world" she was, if I can put it that way.
We all know just how far, not just some, but many women would go to achieve that 'all important to them'  beautiful skin.
Here in Kenya, some ladies even use steroid cream to achieve their idea of a beautiful skin, completely ignoring the health hazards to them.
God gave it freely to Rose and she was uncomfortable with it. She was apparently so sensitive to this that when she reportedly heard someone praise her beauty, she rubbed pepper into her face to mar it.
So very saintly, I thought.

[odhiambo]

Still in relation to Saint Rose. We belong to God, body and soul.
Trying to mar the beauty that God gave her, was that, in a sense being ungrateful?

[Shin]

I think that some things we have are meant to be hidden away.. It's better to be plain than attractive, then folks aren't friendly for the wrong reasons, sinful and superficial. Also, it's safer. Truly, some folks have been through a great deal of trouble because they looked too attractive, that if they had not, life would've been fine.

There's the world's values and then there's the Christian's values, the "natural" life the supernatural life.

St. Rose's deed is an example of virtue worthy of emulation, one shouldn't say anything about ingratitude, that would be quite wrong, and very part of the errors of this time.

 

[Brigid]

That isn't to say we should all go home and rub pepper into our skin!

[Shin]

Unless you're quite young when it can be a bit more work to stop looking decent, I think what suffiices for most of us is to just keep on having bad hair days.  Or 'no hair' days, as I like to call them.

I periodically shave all the hair off my head. It makes it nice and cool in summer. It also has the added benefit of making me all the funnier looking.

 

It can even give a fellow a halo! In the right lighting!



Of course some folks would say my deed is not worthy of emulation. Boggles my mind.   

[Brigid]

Unless you're quite young when it can be a bit more work to stop looking decent, I think what suffiices for most of us is to just keep on having bad hair days.  Or 'no hair' days, as I like to call them.

I periodically shave all the hair off my head. It makes it nice and cool in summer. It also has the added benefit of making me all the funnier looking.

 

It can even give a fellow a halo! In the right lighting!



Of course some folks would say my deed is not worthy of emulation. Boggles my mind.   

      Sounds like a good idea.

[odhiambo]

      Sounds like a good idea.

 

[odhiambo]

Covering the head and face?; arms and legs?

[George]

Today is the feast day of one of my favorite saints, Saint Rose Duchesne.

O gracious God,
You filled the heart of Saint Rose Duchesne
with charity and missionary zeal,
and gave her the desire
to make You known among all peoples.

Fill us, who honor her memory today,
with that same love and zeal
to extend your kingdom to the ends of the earth.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen

[Shin]

St. Rose Duchesne pray for us!  Thank you George!

[James - a humble servant]

Amen !

[odhiambo]

St. Scholastica

Today is the Memorial of  Saint Scholastica.
She was the twin sister of St. Benedict, like her brother, Scholasrica dedicated herself to God from early youth.. In his Second Book of Dialogues (Ch. 33 and 34) Pope St. Gregory has described for us the last meeting between brother and sister:

"His sister Scholastica, who had been consecrated to God in early childhood, used to visit with him once a year. On these occasions he would go to meet her in a house belonging to the monastery a short distance from the entrance. For this particular visit he joined her there with a few of his disciples and they spent the whole day singing God's praises and conversing about the spiritual life.
"When darkness was setting in they took their meal together and continued their conversation at table until it was quite late. Then the holy nun said to him, 'Please do not leave me tonight, brother. Let us keep on talking about the joys of heaven till morning.' 'What are you saying, sister?' he replied. 'You know that I cannot stay away from the monastery.' The sky was so clear at the time, there was not a cloud in sight.
"At her brother's refusal Scholastica folded her hands on the table and rested her head upon them in earnest prayer. When she looked up again, there was a sudden burst of lightning and thunder accompanied by such a downpour that Benedict and his companions were unable to set foot outside the door. By shedding a flood of tears while she prayed, this holy nun had darkened the cloudless sky with a heavy rain. The storm began as soon as her prayer was over. In fact, the two coincided so closely that the thunder was already resounding as she raised her head from the table. The very instant she ended her prayer the rain poured down.
"Realizing that he could not return to the abbey in this terrible storm, Benedict complained bitterly. 'God forgive you, sister!' he said. 'What have you done?' Scholastica simply answered, 'When I appealed to you, you would not listen to me. So I turned to my God and He heard my prayer. Leave now if you can. Leave me here and go back to your monastery.'
"This, of course, he could not do. He had no choice now but to stay, in spite of his unwillingness. They spent the entire night together and both of them derived great profit from the holy thoughts they exchanged about the interior life. The next morning Scholastica returned to her convent and Benedict to his monastery.
"Three days later as he stood in his room looking up toward the sky, he beheld his sister's soul leaving her body and entering the heavenly court in the form of a dove. Overjoyed at her eternal glory, he gave thanks to God in hymns of praise. Then, after informing his brethren of her death, he sent some of them to bring her body to the abbey and bury it in the tomb he had prepared for himself. The bodies of these two were now to share a common resting place, just as in life their souls had always been one in God."
Her tomb is at Monte Cassino.

Saint Scholastica,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

It's one of the most moving of life stories isn't it?