Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where you read the daily Gospels, and the Saint of the Day.
Let’s get started! Today is Tuesday, June 17th, and the Gospel reading is Matthew 5, 43-48, and the scripture to reflect on is Matthew 5, 44. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. What do you think of when you see a heart?
We think of love, right?
Who do you think of if I asked you who do you love?
I thought of my parents, and my brother.
Do you think about your best friend, or brother or sister?
Or what about a grandparent?
Is it easy to love these people because they love us too?
Sometimes there are boys or girls that are mean to you.
Maybe they have said something that was not true.
Do we really have to love those people who are mean to us or say mean things about us? Today’s Saint of the Day, Saint Hervé, also known as Harvey.
He was born in 521 AD and died 556 AD.
He is the patron saint of blindness or people with eye problems. Saint Hervé, or Harvey, was born blind.
His dad died when he was very young, and so he inherited his harp.
When he was seven, his mother had him live with his uncles who were hermits in the forest.
When he was fourteen years old, he went to go study in Abbot.
He was known to being able to cure animals, and he trained a wild wolf to be his pet. However, one day the wolf ate a donkey and ox that Saint Hervé used to plant the fields.
Instead of getting angry, Saint Harvey began to preach to the wolf and pray.
The wolf felt so remorseful, he offered to take the ox and donkey’s place and pull the plow from that day on.
Isn’t that so cool? God calls us to love everyone, even people who hurt us.
Why not next time offer Hail Mary for a person that we don’t get along with?
Even though it’s hard to love them, God can give us grace to do so. Not much is known about Saint Hervé, or Harvey, except for he was a great servant of God.
Even the animals stopped to listen to him.
Despite being blind, he was a guiding light to everyone around him.
I think we could be this way too, don’t you think? Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to love others, even when they are hurtful and mean, so that we are able to show them how you first loved us.
And thank you for your love, even for simple creatures like donkey, oxen, and wolves.
Help us to be a guiding light too! Saint Harvey, pray for us! Amen.
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!