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 Friday, October 17th, and the Gospel reading is Luke 12, 1-7, and the scripture to reflect on is Luke 12, 7.
Why even the hairs of your head are all numbered, fear not, you are more valuable than many sparrows.
I had a funny thought after reading today’s scripture.
Can you imagine if you were brushing your hair, and then you picked out all the hairs that you purled out, and counted them?
How long do you think that would take?
Do you think you would even be possible?
The crazy thing is, is that God knows all the number of hairs on your head, even after you’ve brushed most of them out.
This verse is used to remind us of how big God’s love is for us, and He loves us so much that He knows the number of hair that we have on our head.
Jesus teaches us not to be afraid.
He reminds us that God loves us and knows everything about us.
We will learn that God sees what’s in our heart, and will help us speak when we are scared.
Today’s Saint of the Day, Saint Ignatius of Antioch.
He is my sister’s birthday saint.
Happy birthday, sis! It is unknown when he was born.
He died in the year 107.
He is the patron saint of sacred music and healing throat disease.
Little was known about Saint Ignatius' life, except that he was the Bishop of Antioch.
He was arrested for being a Christian and marched to Rome.
On his way from being murdered, Ignatius wrote seven letters.
He wrote the letters of various churches, and they all are how we know about early Christianity today.
In his letter to the Christians, Ignatius described rough treatment he endured on the journey to Rome.
He writes that the soldiers were like ten lepers who grew fiercer when treated kindly.
He was willing to die because he wanted to see God face to face.
Jesus teaches us not to be afraid.
He reminds us that God loves us and knows everything about us.
He is the creator of everything and everyone, and he knows the details of everything because he cares that much.
When Ignatius heard the empire repeat the question, will you sacrifice to the Roman gods?
He didn’t even change his answer.
Because of this, he was killed in an arena in Rome.
Instead of having fear, Ignatius heard his sentence and reacted with joy, thanking God for the news.
He was honored to die for his faith.
He refused to honor any other God besides the God.
He helped Christians, churches across the land avoid false teaching and encouraged them to keep the faith.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, thank you for loving us and knowing everything about us.
Please help us not to be afraid and to trust you in every part of our lives.
And help me to be grateful even when times get hard for me to feel like I’m giving up.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, 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 next week scattering more flowers.
See ya! Bye!