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, November 13th and the Gospel reading is Luke 17, 20-25 and the scripture to reflect on is Luke 17, 21.
For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.
A lot of you already know that I’m homeschooled and I really love being homeschooled.
I like it because I kind of get to make my own schedule.
Some days I can even be done by lunch time if I put my mind to it and study hard.
But some of those days can go a little bit longer.
It’s because the subject I’m learning is new or a little tough or maybe it’s just super interesting.
The thing about my mom being my teacher is that sometimes, since she’s my teacher and my mom, she sometimes makes me figure things out longer on my own so she doesn’t turn into mom mode and just do all of my work.
Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini.
She was born 1850 and died 1917.
She’s the patron saint of immigrants.
Mother Cabrini was a woman of great determination, profound holiness, superb business skill, and immense faith.
Born in Italy, Maria Francisca received a strong faith from her parents and dreamed of becoming a missionary to China.
But her poor health prevented her from entering religious life in 1874.
Her bishop asked her to teach at the girls' orphanage in the city of Codogno in northern Italy.
There she had five other women begin preparation for religious vows.
They professed vows in 1877 and three years later, in collaboration with the local bishop, found the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Mother Cabrini’s dream to serve in China found new direction in Pope Leo XIII’s advice to her, not to the east but to the west.
She arrived in New York in 1889 and immediately began to work with the Italian immigrants.
Over the next 28 years, she opened 67 institutions from New York to California, Chicago to Argentina.
She died in one of the hospitals in Chicago at age 67 as she was prepping Christmas candy for the local children.
In 1946, she became the first United States citizen to be canonized.
Jesus is teaching about the coming of the kingdom of God.
The Pharisees ask when the kingdom will come, and Jesus explains to his disciples how it will come, and even talk on where it will come.
Jesus' teaching isn’t full of details.
I bet the disciples wished he could have just gave them all the answers, but he didn’t.
Must have made their school day longer.
Mother Cabrini tried to be faithful and available to God in each moment of her life.
Her trusty response to God’s will led her to do both big and small things for the Lord.
In what ways can we have a missionary heart every day?
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help me to try and live my life so that I’m ready and hopeful for Jesus to come.
And help me that when I am weak, I can rely on your strength.
Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, 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 no morrow scattering our flowers.
See ya!