Today is the memorial of St. Jane Francis de Chantal.Now, she is a fascinating saint to me because, for one thing, she was mother to seven children.
That's right!
Mom to seven kids, and STILL she made it to sainthood.
I'm tellin' ya, it gives me hope, it does.
If nothing else, here is a gal that I figure can understand me to a fair degree and I can hit up for prayers on my behalf.
We moms of big families stick together!
She was french, born into a noble family. She also married a nobleman. Which is cool in it's own way because, once again, we see that saints can come from any circumstances; it's the disposition of our hearts and the choices we make, not the situations we are born to that determine the outcome. I think that's fairly encouraging! St. Jane was widowed due to a hunting accident - her husband was shot. She struggled for many years to forgive the man who killed her husband; eventually she succeeded after much prayer and counsel.
Her closest counselor, friend, confident was none other than St. Francis de Sales (another top notch fav saint, and the author of this amazing book). So, here we have St. Jane showing us the importance of true friendship and how a holy friendship can lead to amazing things. Another reason I am keen on her. Her long friendship with St. Francis led her to eventually found the order Visitation nuns. Eventually she founded eighty-five convents.
A woman who can be a mom to a bunch of kids, manage her household in a holy manner, forgive the hardest things and be a long and true friend, and still then manage to found an organization that does eternal good in the world.....now there is an example!I have much to learn from a woman like St. Jane.
She is not of this era, but I daresay that Oprah and the modern reality tv micro-celebs could take a lesson from her too!
St. Jane de Chantal, pray for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment