Saturday, November 17, 2018
SAINT ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY
Romans,
Chapter 1, Verse 17
For in it is
revealed the righteousness of God from faith
to faith; as it is written, “The one who is
righteous by faith will live.”
Remain
faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Rv. 2:10)
Living by faith is having
confidence in the teachings of the church. They that trust in the Divine Mercy
of Jesus and take steps to be the best they can be. They know they are sinners,
but they just keep trying. They rely on
the graces of God to push out the old sinful natures. They believe all that the
church teaches and take action to build the Kingdom of Christ. They devote
themselves to the work of Christ.
The good news of Christ contains God’s power to save.
Faith is central; everything starts and ends with it. The righteous person will
live out their lives in accordance with God’s will and destiny and thus by
faith they believe without seeing.[1]
St. Elizabeth,
Duchess of Thuringia, it is said that the servant of God lost her mother,
Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, about the year 1220. In the spirit of a holy
Christian daughter, she gave abundant alms, redoubled her prayers and
mortifications, exhausted the resources of her charity for the relief of that
dear soul. God revealed to her that she had not done too much. One night the
deceased appeared to her with a sad and emaciated countenance; she placed
herself on her knees next to the bed, and said to her, weeping, “My daughter,
you see at your feet your mother overwhelmed with suffering. I come to implore
you to multiply your suffrages, that Divine Mercy may deliver me from the
frightful torments I endure. Oh! how much are those to be pitied who exercise
authority over others? I expiate now the faults that I committed upon the
throne. Oh! my daughter, I pray you by the pangs I endured when bringing you
into the world, by the cares and anxieties which your education cost me, I
conjure you to deliver me from my torments.” Elizabeth, deeply touched, arose
immediately, took the discipline to blood, and implored God, with tears, to
have mercy on her mother, Gertrude, declaring that she would not cease to pray
until she had obtained her deliverance. Her prayers were heard.
Blessed
the man who fears the Lord.
Elizabeth
was the daughter of the Hungarian King Andrew II. At the age of four (b. 1207),
she was brought to the court of her future husband, Ludwig, landgrave of
Thuringia. After her marriage in 1221, she very conscientiously fulfilled her
duties both toward her husband and as a servant of God. During the night she
would rise from bed and spend long periods in prayer. Zealously she performed
all types of charitable acts; she put herself at the service of widows,
orphans, the sick, the needy. During a famine she generously distributed all
the grain from her stocks, cared for lepers in one of the hospitals she
established, kissed their hands and feet. For the benefit of the indigent she
provided suitable lodging. After the early death of her husband (in 1227 while
on a crusade led by Emperor Frederick II), Elizabeth laid aside all royal
dignities in order to serve God more freely. She put on simple clothing, became
a tertiary of St. Francis, and showed great patience and humility. Nor was she
spared intense suffering - the goods belonging to her as a widow were withheld,
she was forced to leave Wartburg. In Eisenach no one dared receive her out of
fear of her enemies. Upon much pleading a shepherd of the landgrave permitted
her to use an abandoned pig sty. No one was allowed to visit or aid her; with
her three children, of whom the youngest was not more than a few months old,
she was forced to wander about in the winter's cold. In 1228 she took the veil
of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis at Marburg and there built a
hospital with some property still belonging to her. She retained for herself
only a small mud house. All her strength and care were now devoted to the poor
and the sick, while she obtained the few things she needed by spinning. Young in
years but rich in good works, she slept in the Lord in 1231, only twenty-four
years old.
Things to
Do
·
Love
for the poor is characteristic of every genuine follower of Christ, those
lacking the truth are the poorest of the poor, spend some time on a regular
basis studying your faith (by reading or taking a home study course) so that
you will be prepared to feed those who are hungry for the truth.
·
Teach
your children the Corporal and
Spiritual Works of Mercy and give them practical examples.
·
Have
your children help you bake
bread like St. Elizabeth and distribute some to your neighbors.
·
St.
Elizabeth is the patroness of the Franciscan Third Order (tertiary) and of all
Catholic Charities. Find out more about what a third order is, particularly the
Franciscan Third Order.
·
See
Nameday
Ideas for St. Elizabeth, including dessert and symbols and prayers.
·
Follow
these links for some wonderful works of art of St. Elizabeth:
o
Anonymous
Sienese medallion (XIV Century): St.
Elizabeth of Hungary
o
Collinson,
James: St.
Elizabeth of Hungary
o
Martini,
Simone: St.
Clare and St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
o
Martini,
Simone: St. Elizabeth, St. Margaret and Henry of Hungary
National
UnFriend Day (NUD) is an unofficial holiday designed to promote unfriending
other Facebook users that are not true friends. Social media now provides
access to just about anyone, anywhere on the globe. However, this easy global
access exposes personal information to theft or misuse and unnecessary
cluttering by other's junk posts. In this digital age, it is imperative that
identities remain protected and that time spent on social media be reduced and
replaced by face-to-face human interaction. National UnFriend Day was
originally conceived and proposed by TV personality Jimmy Kimmel on November
17, 2010 in an effort to remind society of the true meaning of friendship.
Kimmel believes that there are many Facebook offenses that can lead to
unfriending someone, some of which include, posting too much, spell-checking
too little, repetitively posting the same kind of material, not googling before
asking questions, being on Facebook all the time and sending in-app Facebook
requests for games. In addition to unfriending irritating offenders, it is
advisable to unfriend those whom you no longer have steady contact with and any
unknown users that may have access to your information and posts.
National UnFriend
Day Facts & Quotes
·
According
to a report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
helping navigate the world of media and technology, teenagers spend about 9
hours a day consuming media, 1.5 hours of which is spent on social media.
·
As
of January 2016, compared to other social networks, Facebook is the leading
social network with approximately 1.6 billion active monthly users. This
is in comparison to WhatsApp (900 million active monthly users), Instagram (400
million active monthly users) and Twitter (320 million active monthly users).
·
The
average Facebook user has 338 friends. 27% of young Facebook users have
more than 500 friends, compared an average of 100 friends for 72% of Facebook
users who are older than 65 years of age.
·
36%
of Facebook users strongly dislike it when someone shares too much information
or photos about themselves, as well as when they post photos of others without
asking for permission.
·
I
encourage you to cut out some of the friend fat in your life. A friend is
someone you have a special relationship with. It's not someone who asks which
Harry Potter character you are.- Jimmy Kimmel, November 2010
National UnFriend
Day Top Events and Things to Do
·
Go
through your privacy settings on Facebook. Keep in mind that some of the people
that you have previously friended may not be friends at all. Your privacy
settings can control who is able to see your content and whose content will
show up on your news feed.
·
Decide
who you are going to unfriend on Facebook. Facebook also offers the
possibility of making friends into acquaintances. Your acquaintance list can
then be separated from your friend list, allowing you to publish and read
'friend-only' content.
·
Review
your posting habits. Have you been posting too much content, or have you
been posting photos of your friends, without receiving permission? Check to see
whether you have also violated any Facebook UnFriend Day Offenses as defined by
Jimmy Kimmel.
·
Watch
movies about friendship. Here are some to consider:
1) Stand by Me (1986)
2) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
3) Good Will Hunting (1997)
4) The Intouchables (2011)
5) The Social Network (2010)
6) The Bucket List (2007)
7) As Good as it Gets (1997)
1) Stand by Me (1986)
2) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
3) Good Will Hunting (1997)
4) The Intouchables (2011)
5) The Social Network (2010)
6) The Bucket List (2007)
7) As Good as it Gets (1997)
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
'Domine! — Lord — si vis, potes me mundare, — if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean.' What a beautiful prayer for you to say often, with the
faith of the poor leper, when there happens to you what God and you and I know!
You will not have to wait long to hear the master’s reply: 'Volo, mundare! I
will: be thou made clean!'
Daily Devotions
[1]The Collegeville Bible Commentary
[2]Schouppe
S.J., Rev. Fr. F. X.. Purgatory Explained
[3]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-11-17
[5]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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