What is This Saint of the Year Devotion All About?


This isn't superstition. St. Faustina and her religious order did the same thing!

I would like to explain to you about the practice of picking a saint at random to be your “holy protector and intercessor” for the year. Actually, the saint is the one who chooses us though.The tradition of letting a saint “pick you,”is not a new one. St. Faustina wrote about it in her diary, "Divine Mercy in My Soul".
The excerpt is below. . .

“There is a custom among us of drawing by lot, on New Year's Day, special Patrons for ourselves for the whole year. In the morning, during meditation, there arose within me a secret desire that the Eucharistic Jesus be my special Patron for this year also, as in the past. But, hiding this desire from my Beloved, I spoke to Him about everything else but that. When we came to refectory for breakfast, we blessed ourselves and began drawing our patrons. When I approached the holy cards on which the names of the patrons were written, without hesitation I took one, but I didn't read the name immediately as I wanted to mortify myself for a few minutes. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my soul: ‘I am your patron. Read.’ I looked at once at the inscription and read, ‘Patron for the Year 1935 - the Most Blessed Eucharist.’ My heart leapt with joy, and I slipped quietly away from the sisters and went for a short visit before the Blessed Sacrament,where I poured out my heart. But Jesus sweetly admonished me that I should be at that moment together with the sisters. I went immediately in obedience to the rule.”

Excerpt from "Divine Mercy in My Soul, the Diary of St. Faustina"

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Thursday After Ash Wednesday
Thomas More: What Does It Profit Us?

Deuteronomy 30:15–20;
Psalm 1:1–2, 3–4, 6;
Luke 9:22–25  

In the movie (based on the play by Robert Bolt) "A Man for All Seasons", Sir Thomas More is on trial on trumped-up charges, having angered King Henry VIII, who had set himself up in place of the pope as head of the church in England. A young protégé of More, Richard Rich, supports the king and commits perjury to give evidence that condemns More to death. Rich’s reward for his treachery is appointment as attorney general for Wales. More looks at Rich and asks, “Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world.... But for Wales?”

In today’s Gospel, Luke gives the source of the line More is quoting, as Jesus declares: “What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” (9:25). Thomas More was a scholar, author, lawyer, family man, and chancellor of England. His intense spiritual convictions led him to oppose Henry’s divorce and break with Rome. More’s choice led to his death as a martyr in 1535. Thomas More’s courage and convictions offer us inspiration as Lent begins to work with the grace of God over forty days, remain focused on who we are as followers of Christ, withstand the world’s distractions, and make the “man for all seasons” a great role model to follow.

Today’s Action

How are you being challenged to conversion during this Lent? List one or two of your greatest temptations.  

Prayer

God of our self-denial, show us how to embrace the cross of Jesus. Give us the wisdom to reorder our priorities so that we might gain eternal life. Amen.

Friedman O.F.M., Greg (2011-11-30). Lent With the Saints: Daily Meditations (p. 4). St. Anthony Messenger Press Books. Kindle Edition.
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