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, August 5th, and the Gospel reading is Matthew 14, 22-36, and the scripture to reflect on is Matthew 14, 27. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, Take heart, it is I, have no fear. We just got back from a fun trip to visit our grandparents.
We played with our cousins, ate lots of sugar, and went swimming almost every day.
It was a lot of fun.
My little cousin, who is five, doesn’t know how to swim very well, so he wears floaties to give him extra support so he’s not scared.
It made it easy for him to fit in with us while we jumped off the diving board and did other fun things in the deep end.
Today’s scripture might seem a little like the story that is hard to believe.
You don’t really hear of people who walk on water these days. Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Mary Maculub.
She was born January 15, 1842, and died August 8, 1909.
She is the patron saint of Australia and abuse victims. Mary Helen was the eldest child of Scottish parents who were immigrants to Australia.
Due to the family’s poverty, she began to work at 14 and later became a teacher and governess.
In 1864, with the help of Father Julian, Mary opened a boarding school for girls in Portland, Victoria.
Two years later, they opened the country’s first Catholic school in Panola, South Australia.
Seeing the urgent need for Catholic education in 1867, Mary found the first native Australian religious order, the Sisters of St.
Joseph of the Sacred Heart or the Joseph Knights.
She took vows as Sister Mary on the cross, perhaps not suspecting how greatly the cross would impact her life in the near future.
As happened so often to the saints' misunderstandings and jealousy led to opposition.
Mother Maculub was accused of disobedience and stealing money.
This led first to her banishment from her order and finally in 1871 to excommunication.
Eventually the excommunication was revoked and when the truth came out, she was reappointed. Just like Peter started to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus, we start to sink if we think we can do things on our own.
We will fail.
But Jesus has promised to protect and provide for us when we pray and read our Bibles and go to church.
And remember that God is near.
Jesus can be our floaties. It is hard to imagine being criticized, as was Mary Maculub, without seeking to turn the tables on the accusers.
She greatly respected the opinions and viewpoints of others.
Mary Maculub is an attractive example for us when we feel tempted to be judgmental of others. Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to remember to trust in you.
We can do nothing without you.
We love you.
And help us to love everyone, even if they mistreat or are unkind to us.
Saint Mary Maculub, 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!