Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where we read the Daily Gospels and the Saint of the Day.
Let’s get started! Today is Tuesday, April 29th, and we’ll be reading John 3, 7-15.
Follow along in your Bible if you have one.
Now let’s read John 3, 7-15.
Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born anew.
The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus said to him, How can this be?
Jesus answered him, Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this?
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen.
But you do not receive your testimony.
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, and goes as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so much the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Let’s play a game of Would You Rather.
Would you rather be a shepherd in Bethlehem or a fisherman in Galilee?
Would you rather part the Red Sea like Moses or encounter an angel like Mary?
Would you rather sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary or serve Jesus like Martha?
Would you rather be born again of the Spirit or just live an okay life with uncertainty of eternity?
Jesus told Nicodemus that God loved us so much he gave us his Son.
And lucky for us, that message wasn’t just for Nicodemus, it’s for us too.
All we have to do is believe and we can be born again too.
Heyo! Today’s saint is Saint Catherine of Siena.
Now, let’s read her story.
Catherine Benicossa was the second youngest of 25 children born to her parents.
Only half of her siblings survived childhood, so she was familiar with loss.
From a young age, Catherine had mythical visions and felt drawn to give her life to God, but her parents had other plans.
When they began to arrange a marriage for her, Catherine resisted and took up extreme practices to demonstrate her firm resolve.
Her parents eventually gave up and Catherine became a Dominican tertiary, living the Dominican spiritually within her family home.
For three years, Catherine lived in silence and solitude in a room in her family home.
After a mythical experience of the union with Jesus, Catherine felt called to leave solitude and began to help the sick and serve the poor.
Gradually, people were attracted by her holiness and many properment people sought her advice.
She dictated at least 15 letters to Pope Gregory XI, insisting that he move back to Rome from Avignon, and she eventually relented around this time.
Catherine began work on her dialogues, the book of her meditation and revelations.
Catherine died in Rome after a three-month-long illness.
She was only 33.
She was canonized in 1461 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1970.
Saint Catherine was gifted with a desire to be one with God.
Catherine’s writings are among the classics of Italian literature.
The advice and wisdom contained in her writings can still be applied to our lives today.
Catherine wrote that no matter where people lived or who they were, they should realize that all their talents and everything they have is from God.
Catherine used her talents to have a positive effect in the world.
God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus.
The blessed and beautiful truth of the gospel is that we do not have to do anything special in order to receive new life.
We only have to believe and receive free salvation.
So again, let me ask you, would you rather be born of the Spirit or just have an okay life?
I think living for Jesus and doing our best to live holy, reading the Bible, praying, and getting ourselves to Mass is super important.
Saint Catherine of Siena was a messenger of love and peace.
She focused on speaking truth with love and helped others to walk with Jesus even during hard times.
Maybe to honor Saint Catherine, you can make a card for the people that they love who might be sick or just need to know they are loved.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, thank you for Jesus who came to save us and for a new life to be born again because that is our faith in you.
And help us to remember that we are who you made us and that being ourselves helps us to be the light to others.
Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!