Thought for the Day – 20 October – The Memorial of St Maria Bertilla Boscardin (1888 – 1922)
“The humble nun of Brendola is the confirmation of a tradition that makes a fervent parish the first school of how to live a life of goodness and of holiness. Saint Bertilla is now on the altars above those people called the wise and the prudent of this century. She did not attend an extensive training in the schools but was able to carry out with good grace each task entrusted to her. Her book, kept jealously among her most treasured possessions was the Catechism, given to her by her parish priest. From it, she drew inspiration and comfort as a child, retiring with it alone in solitude, after having finished the housework, to read and re-read it all the time and to teach it with fervour to her contemporaries.
Here we have a simple soul who from the first unfolding of her vocation is pleased to throw herself into it entirely and without reservation, helped on by the respect the consent and encouragement of her parents. She was happy to do even the most humble service, because she does not ask for anything for herself, nor was she diverted by fancies of curiosity or by personal preferences.
Someone – that is, the Lord – was always with her to direct and enlighten her….”…St Pope John XXIII at the Canonisation of St Maria
And ‘they’ called her “the Goose” but she is a Saint, high above all of ‘them’! The simple peasant woman who was once called “the Goose” had taken flight and soared all the way up to Heaven.
AnaStpaul 