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, April 2nd, and the Gospel reading is John 13, 1-15, and the scripture to reflect on is John 13, 14. If I, therefore, the Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. In Jesus' time there were no sidewalks.
People walked on dusty paths and their feet got dirty.
So if you were invited to someone’s house for dinner, a servant might wash your feet.
But Jesus himself did this at the Last Supper for his disciples, and he told them to do the same to others. Today’s Saint of the Day is St.
Francis of Paola.
He was born 1416 and died 1507.
He is the patron saint of naval officers. A childless couple in Paola, Italy, had prayed for a child through the intercession of Francis of Assisi.
When God answered their prayers, a couple named their newborn son Francis.
When Francis was 13, he lived in a nearby Franciscan friary for a year.
There he learned to read, write, and how to live the Franciscan lifestyle of poverty simplistically. After he lived a life as a hermit, eventually joined by others, they called themselves the Poor Hermits of St.
Francis of Assisi.
Later, Francis changed their name to the Order of the Minims, indicating that he wanted his order to be seen by least of all. In 1481, at the request of the dying King Louis XI, Francis traveled barefoot to France.
Although the king wanted to be healed, Francis helped him to accept his death in peace.
Francis died several decades later on Good Friday. We no longer need to wash one another’s feet, but we can help in other ways.
Our Lord helps us through our difficulties when we ask.
Why not do the same for others?
Start with your family and friends.
Think about it.
Wouldn’t life be great if everyone did that? Francis of Paola worked many miracles in the name of charity.
He healed a blind person, restored a child-disfigured eyeless face, and brought people back to life.
He also had the gift of prophecy.
These were graces that God did not bestow on many, but God gives abundant graces to some people for the sake of everybody.
What gifts has God given you for the sake of others? Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help me do whatever you ask of me, without complaining.
And pray that I may always use the gifts that you have given me to help others in need.
St.
Francis of Paola, 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!