St. Agnes and St. Francis

I didn’t exactly start out on the right foot last week. Something about my oldest son coming home Monday morning at 3:00 a.m. and only getting three hours of sleep that night myself just threw me off of my usual groove.

So Monday was St. Agnes’s feast day, but I really did not do much about it with the kids.

Yesterday afternoon then, at the end of our homeschool day, I read to them the account of St. Agnes’s life from one of my favorite kids’ books, 57 Stories of Saints. It does a nice job of presenting young Agnes and her humility, holiness and faith. It also makes her gruesome death easier to read to children.

It is interesting how my young children have picked up on so much of the martyrdom and death that seemed to follow Christians throughout history. As we talked about St. Agnes, I wanted to tell Izzy and Noah about the blessing of the lambs that happens every year on her feast day.

“Agnes means lamb and St. Agnes is often pictured holding or petting a lamb! So on her feast day brand new lambs are taken to the church…”

“and slaughtered,” said Noah.

“Uh no. They aren’t slaughtered Noah. They are taken to the church and blessed by the Pope…”

“and then they’re slaughtered,” insisted Noah.

“No Noah!” I said in surprise. “They’re blessed and then they get to be happy little lambs and their only job is to grow wool. Then on Holy Thursday they are given a haircut so that their wool can be used to make new vestments for new priests. Isn’t that neat!”

“I bet they’re slaughtered then for Passover.” opined Noah.

Sigh…

I also read the conversion story of St. Paul to Izzy and Noah as yesterday was the memorial for that. I don’t know what’s up with Noah these days, but he really thought St. Paul was asking a lot to hang around with his new “peeps” after his conversion, and Noah thought the disciples were very wise to be cautious of the newly converted Saul! “I wouldn’t trust him either Mom,” said Noah.

The story of St. Francis de Sale was harder to read to the kids. He didn’t die a martyrs death or do stuff that sounded fun or dangerous. So his biography is a bit hard to punch up for their interest. But maybe reading about the saint yesterday was a special gift for me instead.

Last week Mr. Pete didn’t get a paycheck. It’s not that he hasn’t earned the money. His books show that. But he is just having a hard time to collecting it. So behind my back he charged the house payment. Of course he chose a card that was due this week so I found out. Much grinding and gnashing of teeth ensued.

So I was reading my usual blog finds and found that one of my favorite bloggers had a similar experience. She handled it much more gracefully than I did I’m afraid. Reading her experience was a special grace to me.

I found another blessing as I researched St. Francis and found this quote on Elena Marie Vidal’s blog:

Do not look forward to the mishaps of this life with anxiety, but await them with perfect confidence so that when they do occur, God, to whom you belong, will deliver you from them. He has kept you up to the present; remain securely in the hand of his providence, and he will help you in all situations. When you cannot walk, he will carry you. Do not think about what will happen tomorrow, for the same eternal Father who takes care of you today will look out for you tomorrow and always. Either he will keep you from evil or he will give you invincible courage to endure it. Remain in peace; rid your imagination of whatever troubles you.

Looking forward to mishaps and ridding my imagination are not two of my strong points. It was a blessing for me to read the saint’s words and then see Barbara live them out so beautifully!

Looking ahead, next week are the feasts of two of my favorite saints, Thomas Aquinas and St. John Bosco! Sammy has learned to juggle so maybe I can convince him to put on a show for us on St. John Bosco’s feast day! I’ll post my other plans as I get them organized!

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