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 Wednesday, January 21st, and the Gospel reading is Mark 3, 1-6, and the scripture to reflect on is Mark 3, 5.
And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and he said to the man, Stretch out your hand.
He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Have you ever done something good, even when others thought you shouldn’t?
Maybe you stood up in front of someone or shared something when you weren’t supposed to.
Jesus showed that doing good and helping others is always important.
Even though Jesus did something wonderful by healing the man, the Pharisees were very angry and started planning to hurt Jesus.
They missed the point of showing love and kindness.
Sometimes the people who make our laws get a little carried away and pass some very silly laws.
I did some research on the internet and found some examples of some of the silliest laws I’ve ever heard of.
In Fairbanks, Alaska, it’s illegal to serve alcohol to a moose.
I wonder if it’s illegal to serve alcohol to a bear.
There’s a city in Arizona where it’s illegal to drive a car in reverse.
So how are you supposed to get out of your parking space at the mall?
There is some town in Minnesota where a woman can be arrested for impersonating Santa Claus.
I think you will agree that all those are some pretty silly laws.
But even back in the day when Jesus lived, they had some pretty silly laws too.
There were a group of religious leaders called the Pharisees who were keepers of the laws of Moses.
And they believed that keeping the law was everything.
They also believed that their own understanding and teaching about the law was the only correct teaching.
Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Agnes of Rome.
She was born in the year 291 and died in 304.
She is the patron saint of virgins and gardeners.
Agnes was the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Roman family during the region of the Empire Diocese.
While still very young, many men offered to marry her.
Agnes rejected all of them, saying that she had a vow to remain a virgin.
Arranged her suitors publicly accused her of being a Christian and thus an enemy of Rome.
When brought to judge to answer the changes, Agnes declared her faith in Jesus Christ.
The Roman governor ordered Agnes to be beheaded as an example of the fate that awaited anyone who followed Christ.
However, the sight of the lovely girl going courageously to her death had quite the opposite effect upon those who witnessed it.
Many were moved to be baptized and to give their lives to Jesus.
She quickly became one of the most beloved saints of the early church.
Because of her name’s similarity, the Latin word Agnes, which means lamb, is because of her purity.
Agnes is often depicted holding a lamb.
Her name is listed along with other virgin martyrs in the Eucharistic prayer.
One of the Ten Commandments is remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
But can you imagine a law so silly that you could not do a good thing like healing someone because it was the Sabbath?
I don’t think that was exactly what God meant.
We need to remember that Jesus shows us how to love and care for others.
Just like he healed the man on the Sabbath, we can show love and kindness in our everyday lives by helping others and putting our trust in Jesus.
Agnes was happy in prison.
She glowed with joy because of her love for Jesus.
Agnes always said to others, I only want Jesus.
Agnes died calmly and peacefully, knowing that she was headed to heaven.
We know little about Agnes' life and death, but we do know that she had a single-hearted passion for God and always followed him.
This led to her martyrism.
She suffered herself to God and chose to love his every moment.
Agnes shows that loving is not a one-time choice.
It means to choose love again and again.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to follow the example of Jesus in loving and caring for others.
And help me to love you more than I love anything else in this world.
St.
Agnes of Rome, 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!