Thought for the Day – 24 July – Wednesday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C and the Memorial of Saint Christina ‘Mirabilis/the Astonishing’ (1150-1224)
Christina was very introverted and assiduously avoided being around others. She would take extreme measures to avoid contact with people, by doing such things as climbing high up in trees (to avoid the smell of SIN) or even hiding in ovens. Many people thought her to be insane but others who knew her, venerated her for her holiness. She lived her entire life in poverty and spent her last three years living in St. Catherine’s convent at Saint-Trond.
There have been other saints that some felt were more insane than they were saintly. In the eyes of the world, even now, those who follow Christ in piety and love, oftentimes are seen to be ‘odd’ and ‘weird.’ However, it is not for us to judge others, as our Lord Jesus said. St John the Baptiser lived in the wilderness and ate locusts but our Lord said, that among men born of women, John was the greatest. Jesus instructed us to love one another. On a human level, Christina may have seemed unusual but she lived to please God, not men. This is the calling of each of us – to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love one another as we love ourselves.
Prayer
St Christina,
you lived a life of poverty
and loneliness in the eyes of others.
But you knew, that in the eyes of God,
you were wealthy and had His love
and the companionship of saints and angels.
Help us to see beyond the things of the world
and to realise, that, we are never alone with God
and that we are surrounded by
a “great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.”
Pray that we remember to offer up our sufferings
for those who do not see beyond the material
and those who are seeking love and fulfilment,
that they may come to know God
and understand, that they are never alone.
Amen
AnaStpaul 