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 Thursday, September 4th, and the Gospel reading is Luke 5, 1 through 11, and the scripture to reflect on is Luke 5, 5.And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word I will let down my nets.See if you can figure out what the Gospel story is about in today’s reading from these few words that I list off.
Water, deep, boat, nets, follow, master.
It’s the story of Simon being called and being told to leave his nets and follow his master, Jesus.
Fishing is not one of my favorite things to do.
I know, I know, lots of people do it and like to do it.
Sometimes they spend hours casting and reeling and don’t catch a thing.
And that’s what happened to Peter and his fishing friends when they first met Jesus.
And Jesus told Simon to try something different and to trust him, and he caught so many fish that they filled up his boat.Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Rosalina, Virgin of Palermo.
She was born in the year 1125 and died in the year 1170.Saint Rosalina was born into a noble family, and at a young age she left the comforts of her life to live as a hermit and lived in a cave, where she remained entirely hidden from the world.
She lived her whole life praying and devoting herself to God.
She was only 35 when she died.
In 1624, 458 years after Rosalina’s death, a horrible plague struck Palermo.
During this hardship, she appeared to a sick woman and healed her.
She then appeared to a hunter in which she indicated where her remains would be found.
She ordered him to bring her bones to Palermo and to have them carried in procession through the city.
The hunter climbed the mountain and found her bones in the cave as she had described.
He did what she had asked, and after the procession, the plague stopped immediately.
After this great miracle, Saint Rosalina would have been venerated as a patron saint of Palermo, and a sanctuary was built in a cave where her bones were discovered.
Sometimes when something is not working or doesn’t make sense, we should be more like Peter and trust Jesus.
He will take care of us and tell us what we need to do.
All we need to do is remember to trust him.
Saint Rosalina heard the voice of God at a very young age.
How many times do we stop our daily lives to hear the voice of God?
Her life shows us that we can find ways of our life to be in communion with God, and that means more than just going to Mass on Sunday.
We can call on Saint Rosalina to intercede for us and to help us find the same communion with God that she had.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help me to trust you every day, even if it’s hard to understand it or it may not make sense.
Help us to find more ways to be quiet and to become closer to you and to time to spend in prayer and meditation to you.
Saint Rosalina, 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!