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 Monday, July 21st, and the Gospel reading is Matthew 12, 38-42, and the scripture to reflect on is Matthew 12, 39.
But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Most of us know the story of Jonah and the whale, or the big fish, right?
Jonah is told to go to Nineveh to preach, but he doesn’t.
He gets on a boat instead.
Then there are big storms, and the shipmates decide to throw him overboard, and the storms stop.
But when he is thrown overboard, he is swallowed by a whale, which then spits him out onto shore, and he follows God’s instruction and goes to preach.
Phew! Jesus' dying and raising again can be compared to Jonah being swallowed in the giant whale and then being spit out.
And both stories took place over three days.
Jesus is very clear that his death, burial, and resurrection is the true sign of his authority.
Even when that sign happened, the Pharisees still didn’t believe and even tried to hide the truth.
Today’s saint of the day is St.
Lawrence of Brindisi.
He was born July 22, 1559, and died July 22, 1619.
He is a patron saint of preachers and Brindisi.
St.
Lawrence of Brindisi was born in Italy.
He entered the Capuchins when he was 16 and ordained in 1582.
He had an extraordinary gift for speaking many languages, and he fluently spoke at least eight, including Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.
This helped him study the Bible and the original languages, which proved a great aid for preaching.
Lawrence wrote lots of important things about the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as biblical writings.
It is said that Lawrence knew scripture so well that he could rewrite it from the Bible from memory.
St.
Lawrence was an important figure in the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
His preaching was so bold that he attracted great crowds.
He brought so many Lutherans back to the Catholic faith.
Because of his zeal preaching, he helped form unity among the countries of Europe in 1959.
St.
John III named him a doctor of the church with the title Apostolic Doctor.
When we read the story of Jonah, we can see the story of our Savior, Jesus.
He died and rose again to take away our sin.
We can look to him, trust him, read our Bibles to learn more of who he is and have happiness in our lives.
St.
Lawrence had holy methods that attracted many people.
He used his gifts of knowledge and knowing many languages to evangelize.
We can be more like him by being a true witness to our faith and speaking to people without judging first and getting along with them.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us not to doubt the truth of your Son coming down to die for our sins.
Help us to never waver in our faith.
And help us want to study and deepen our knowledge of the sacred scripture like St.
Lawrence of Brindisi.
St.
Lawrence of Brindisi, 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!