Sorry this post doesn't seem so .... cheery... was just a sudden random thought as I read something a friend wrote...I haven't talked to them since I moved without saying goodbye :-( alas, my fault.
I was just relating this...stupidity I can't take back... to a friend, then it suddenly struck me, we design our own crosses, so to speak:
I designed my own cross:
Loss of friendship heavy as ebony,
Details carved intricately, I can never forget,
Memories glow as a lacquer, brightness burns the eyes.
I want to throw it from me, but then I can't let it go....
And so I carry you always with me, my cross.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
A Woman
I just started reading the life of Anna-Maria Taigi which mentioned (on only the second page) that she was like another Catherine of Siena, supporting the the pope with her prayers against Emperor Napoleon. It made me stop and think of that phrase one hears once in awhile in history class that behind every great man is a great woman and that behind every evil man is an evil woman.
But then I thought of Catherine and Anna-Maria and then Our Lady and I thought, "In the way of every evil man, God has always placed as his foe a holy woman to protect the Church" and "In every century, there is a holy woman sacrificing her life for the world...in every century, there is a strong woman saint who has saved the world, even if she's gone mostly unseen..."
In all the really frightening and evil times, in every century, I'm sure we can find that there is a great woman that rose to the challenge to sacrifice her life and by prayer and suffering softens God to help the Church, a Pope, a nation, a king to do God's will.
Think about it, the devil (we all think of Satan as a man right :-P ) challenged God, fell from heaven, temped Adam and Eve to sin , God said that his head would be crushed by a woman, Our Lady. When there was a threat to France and the Church, God rose up St Joan of Arc to fight the English (hey, the English had a male ruler! :-D, besides, the English pretty much gave birth to some "great" protestant sects and killed the Church in England it could have taken over half of Europe in error had not Joan rose up and fought back the English helping to end English hold in parts of France, who knows. Not much of a historian, but I did hear that theory brought up once, sounded interesting.
Anyhow, you get my point, we can look back in history and often find a great woman when there was a time of great crisis for the Church who had a hand in saving the Church by some means or influence.
...and even thought it just came upon me all this randomness, I have often thought of how God does seem to make use of a saintly woman when the world seems to be floundering... and then I stop in awe and wonder, "I wonder who/where this great woman saint of today is? There have been saints all along, where are they? are they in convents or just some housewife somewhere giving up her life to God for the world, for our leaders? ..."
There have got to be saint somewhere in this world, right? ...and then something I read that Padre Pio said to a woman once, I think I read it in the Angelus or something, a woman confessed an abortion to him or he just knew, and he said to her "You aborted the bishop who would have saved the Church...." Perhaps that woman then devoted her life to God begging Him to save the Church another way? We may never know...
But it's an interesting thought, God raises up great saints in all centuries, why not ours? Where are ours? Maybe it's a housewife in Brazil, maybe it's some nun tucked away in one of the convents of the world, maybe it's someone we know. Whoever she is, wherever she is, I am in awe of her, I applaud her, I will pray for her.
But then I thought of Catherine and Anna-Maria and then Our Lady and I thought, "In the way of every evil man, God has always placed as his foe a holy woman to protect the Church" and "In every century, there is a holy woman sacrificing her life for the world...in every century, there is a strong woman saint who has saved the world, even if she's gone mostly unseen..."
In all the really frightening and evil times, in every century, I'm sure we can find that there is a great woman that rose to the challenge to sacrifice her life and by prayer and suffering softens God to help the Church, a Pope, a nation, a king to do God's will.
Think about it, the devil (we all think of Satan as a man right :-P ) challenged God, fell from heaven, temped Adam and Eve to sin , God said that his head would be crushed by a woman, Our Lady. When there was a threat to France and the Church, God rose up St Joan of Arc to fight the English (hey, the English had a male ruler! :-D, besides, the English pretty much gave birth to some "great" protestant sects and killed the Church in England it could have taken over half of Europe in error had not Joan rose up and fought back the English helping to end English hold in parts of France, who knows. Not much of a historian, but I did hear that theory brought up once, sounded interesting.
Anyhow, you get my point, we can look back in history and often find a great woman when there was a time of great crisis for the Church who had a hand in saving the Church by some means or influence.
...and even thought it just came upon me all this randomness, I have often thought of how God does seem to make use of a saintly woman when the world seems to be floundering... and then I stop in awe and wonder, "I wonder who/where this great woman saint of today is? There have been saints all along, where are they? are they in convents or just some housewife somewhere giving up her life to God for the world, for our leaders? ..."
There have got to be saint somewhere in this world, right? ...and then something I read that Padre Pio said to a woman once, I think I read it in the Angelus or something, a woman confessed an abortion to him or he just knew, and he said to her "You aborted the bishop who would have saved the Church...." Perhaps that woman then devoted her life to God begging Him to save the Church another way? We may never know...
But it's an interesting thought, God raises up great saints in all centuries, why not ours? Where are ours? Maybe it's a housewife in Brazil, maybe it's some nun tucked away in one of the convents of the world, maybe it's someone we know. Whoever she is, wherever she is, I am in awe of her, I applaud her, I will pray for her.
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