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, October 14th, and the Gospel reading is Luke 11, 37-41.
And the scripture to reflect on is Luke 11, 37.
He entered and reclined at table to eat.
When you eat dinner with your family, do you all sit together around the table in chairs?
Do you have any rules?
We are not allowed to smack our food, and we can’t lay on the table.
We have to sit up and eat nice.
It’s good to have manners, don’t you think?
Does anyone remind you to sit up straight while you’re eating?
Sharing a meal with friends and family in Jesus' time was very different.
Some people ate meals while laying on couches or cushions around a table that was meant to recline at table.
They rested their heads and their elbows and ate with their hands.
Jesus enjoyed eating in a lounging way.
There are a few stories in the Bible that tell about it.
He enjoyed sharing a meal with others, and he still enjoys sharing and blessing meals with you! Today’s Saint of the Day, Saint Callistus I.
His birth year is unknown, but he died in the year 222.
He’s the patron saint of cemetery workers.
Saint Callistus worked as a slave, taking care of his master’s banking business.
Callistus irresponsibly lost the money, either through stealing or careless counting, and so he fled with the wrath of his master.
When pursuers closed in, he jumped into the sea but was caught and sentenced to work in a mill.
After his misdemeanor, Callistus was sentenced to work in the mines with other Christian prisoners.
When Saint Zephrinus was elected pope in 199, he put Callistus in charge of the public cemetery for Christians.
This was one of the first pieces of property in Rome that the church owned, and unlike his earlier experience with stewarding money, Callistus managed cemetery wisely.
After Callistus' excellent stewardship of the cemetery, Zephrinus asked Callistus to serve as one of his counselors, and he ordained him as a deacon.
The two became close friends.
When Zephrinus died, Callistus was elected pope in 217 by the majority of the Christians of Rome.
Legends has it that he was thrown into a well or even murdered.
Jesus wants to help our hearts changing and grow.
Try to pay attention to how much you spend on worrying about the way others see you.
God sees the heart and judges us on what we try to be, and he understands that much of the meanness and sin has to do with the human weakness.
We can learn from St.
Callistus that even though we are sinful people, we can change how we think and live and live to be holy and try to become saints too.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to remember that living for you is the most important thing in the world.
And help us to desire to be clean on the inside too, by going to confession and asking forgiveness.
St.
Callistus, 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!