Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Beauty of Faith

Blog. Fail. Really, I have been failing. Miserably! Now what do I even blog about...? I'll just talk about a few recent experiences at work :)

A couple days ago I was helping a woman find a St. Elizabeth necklace for her daughter who will be making her Confirmation soon. I pointed out the necklace and on it it says "ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY patron of Bakers and Widows". The woman said "Bakers? She's the patron saint of Bakers!?". At first I was taken aback, why was that so upsetting? I guess it is a little strange, her daughter chose a saint who is the patroness of bakers and widows, a little different perhaps but not THAT weird. She continued to laugh to herself and say "Bakers" so I finally told her that St. Elizabeth is probably the patron saint of other things as well. Immediately she stopped me: "No, no, we are Bakers, a lot of things like that keep happening". Needless to say I was lost. I soon realized their last name must be Baker and God must keep putting little things in their lives to show His presence.

At this point I chuckled and said "Well, it appears you guys have your very own patron saint then!". We then went to the next thing she was looking for who was of course, St. Catherine of Siena (my Confirmation Saint and the patroness of my sorority, because God does those things to help us know He's there!). She was telling me all about St. Catherine and as it turned out, her and her daughter were going through RCIA together. St. Catherine is her Confirmation saint. Ahh, it was finally making sense. Then it dawned on me. This woman has such a strong, beautiful desire to learn about the Catholic faith, and me, an old cradle Catholic takes it all for granted. Long story short, this woman reminded me that God is always showing His presence to us, we simply must be on the look out for Him. I also realized the importance of constantly learning. If you stop seeking to learn about your faith, you could lose it.

All the 'God moments' (such as St. Elizabeth being the patron saint of Bakers, some may call the coincidences but I do not think that is always the case...) reminded me of Mary our Mother, she is the Queen of 'God moments'. So I told the woman as she was leaving to watch out, as she develops a relationship with our Mother all of a sudden God is everywhere,

The woman and her daughter are going through RCIA, her daughter is 16. What a beautiful way to enter the Church! Prayers for them and all going through RCIA! Lenten blessings! :)