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"

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Isidore the Farmer: Prayer in the Midst of Our Labors

Isaiah 55:10–11; 
Psalm 34:4–5, 6–7, 16–17, 18–19;
Matthew 6:7–15  

An old joke defines a farmer as someone “outstanding in his field.” St. Isidore the Farmer not only stood out for his work in tilling the soil but was also a deeply prayerful man.

Today’s First Reading uses images familiar to farmers. Isaiah describes the fertility of the word of God, comparing its power to that of the rain and snow in watering the earth, allowing it to bear fruit, producing seed for the sower and bread for the hungry.

Isidore lived from 1070 to 1130 in the vicinity of Madrid, Spain, where he worked on the estate of a wealthy landowner. He was generous to the poor, helping to feed them, and sensitive to the care of beasts of burden. But it is his spirit of prayer that is remembered—whether rising early to pray in church or praying as he plowed his fields. He is honored today as patron of Madrid and of the U.S. Bishops’ Rural Life Conference.

Legend has it that Isidore’s coworkers grumbled when he was late for work because he had stayed in church praying; the tales go on to relate how angels then came to take up the slack in his work. We may have trouble finding time this Lent to pray. Isidore can teach us that it’s possible to find the time for prayer in the midst of a busy life.

Today’s Action

Decide how you will make time to pray this Lent.  

Prayer

Word enfleshed, be fertile and fruitful in us, that we may come to know how you reveal the Father, and come to fulfill the divine will on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Friedman O.F.M., Greg (2011-11-30). Lent With the Saints: Daily Meditations (p. 14). St. Anthony Messenger Press Books. Kindle Edition.
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