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 Thursday, October 16th, and the Gospel reading is Luke 11, 47-54, and the scripture to reflect on is Luke 11, 52.
Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.
You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.
When you have a big decision to make, what do you do to help make it?
Do you pray?
Do you ask for direction?
Do you have a close friend or family member that you can talk to to figure things out?
I like to talk to my mom and dad when I need help or advice or something.
I asked my dad, mom, and brother who they turn to for advice.
My mom says she talks through things with my dad, and sometimes she likes to read stories about the saints to see if they can offer help, and of course, our mother Mary.
My brother said he asked my dad for advice, and my dad says he asks my mom or sometimes his dad, and definitely God.
What if we asked these people we are close to for advice and didn’t listen?
I think that would be hurtful and kind of selfish.
Jesus would say, woe to us.
Just listen for good advice to become better people.
Today’s saint of the day, St.
Margaret Mary Alacoque.
She was born July 22, 1647, and died October 1690.
She is the patron saint of those suffering from polio.
From childhood, Margaret Mary suffered many things.
When she was only eight years old, her father died.
Then she developed a big fever, and she was unable to walk for four years.
Her relatives took over her father’s property and treated her, and her mother was very cruel.
However, though the suffering, she found strength in her faith.
Mary Margaret was healed of her paralysis when she prayed the Blessed Virgin Mary and promised to enter religious life.
It took her time to follow through on her promise.
Her mother wanted her to get married and have a family, so she sent Margaret to dance and a beautiful dress in hopes that she would find a husband.
But after the dance, Margaret Mary believed that she had saw Jesus on the cross, and he asked her, have you forgotten about me?
From the moment, Mary Margaret was completely dedicated to Jesus.
Between 1673 and 1675, she received visions in which Jesus revealed his heart to her.
He told Mary Margaret that he had chosen her to spend devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Do you know who is always paying attention to you?
God.
God is interested in everything that you do.
When you spend time with God, he isn’t looking at his phone.
He is listening to you.
Spend some time with the Lord today.
Breathe in and out slowly and listen for what he is saying to you.
You are made to have a relationship with Jesus and God.
Even though many people didn’t believe that Jesus had spoken to Margaret Mary, she kept listening to him.
She encouraged the practice of Holy Hours, which means spending time in prayer at church on Thursdays to remember that Thursday night was when Jesus suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane.
After her death, it took the church 75 years to officially recognize and approve devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Let’s pray in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, thank you for being with us always and for knowing what we need even before we ask.
And help me to listen to you throughout my life, like St.
Margaret Mary did.
Help me to have courage and trust to respond with your love to others.
St.
Margaret Mary, pray for us.
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! Thank you!