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 Monday, April 27th, and the gospel reading is John 10, 11 through 18, and the scripture to reflect on is Acts 11, 17.
If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?
When pigs fly, when hens have teeth, when a cough fish whistles on the mountain, when frogs grow hair, when the sun rises from the west.
Have you ever heard these silly sayings?
It’s basically an expression that means something is impossible.
Pigs don’t fly since they don’t have wings and they’re too bulky to get off the ground.
But do you know what?
The awesome thing about the Bible is that a lot of times we see the impossible happen.
In today’s reading, God used a vision he gave Peter to open his heart to outsiders, to share with them about Jesus.
It’s important to live every day out with love for others.
Today’s saint of the day is Saint Zeta.
She was born 1218 and died 1278.
She is the patron saint of homemakers.
Zeta, born in a village of northern Italy, was raised in the Catholic faith by her pious mother.
When she was 12 years old, Zeta began working as a service for a wealthy Fontanelle family.
She was convinced that her hard work could help her grow in holiness and that she could do God’s will by serving well.
She would raise the early hours to pray and attend mass.
Surprisingly, Zeta’s holiness and hard work did not earn her the respect of her fellow servants and employees.
They strongly disliked her and assumed she was showing off.
But over time, everyone realized Zeta’s devotion was sincere and they came to love her.
Because of her loyalty and hard work, Zeta was eventually placed in charge of a household.
As head servant, she took her responsibilities very serious while also caring for the poor who came to the house for alms.
She spent her free time in prayer, having a particularly strong devotion to the Eucharist.
Many miracles took place during her lifetime.
Zeta prayed for and foresaw her own death, which enabled her to prepare well for the age 60.
The law from Jesus' time includes a long list of rules, so sometimes we are still mostly worried about making sure that we are following rules and looking just right or doing the good things.
Today’s reading helps us to remember that God’s love is more important than stiff rules, and when we act with that love, many times the rules are easy to follow and just fall into place.
We don’t have to wait for pigs to fly or frogs to grow some hair.
Zeta spent her entire life devoted to hard work because she believed that through this she could serve God.
She led a simple life and in close communion with God and saw even the most menial household tasks as opportunities to be mindful of God’s presence.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help me to live my life through your love first, not just rules.
And help me to use the most tedious everyday tasks in my life to grow closer to you.
Saint Zeta, 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!