Search Results for: saints – Page 94

St. Anna Schäffer wanted to be a missionary. Falling into a boiling laundry vat took away any possibility of that happening; she was bedridden for the rest of her life. It didn’t seem right. Hadn’t God put on Anna’s heart that she had a calling as a missionary? For two years, she struggled to see the purpose in this tragedy. With time, she adjusted her thinking, and she began to see her disability as a cross to be picked up and carried daily. Anna said she had three tools with which to bring souls to the Lord: her suffering, her needle, and her penholder.

“Whatever troubles may be before you, accept them cheerfully, remembering whom you are trying to follow. Do not be afraid.” —St. Mary MacKillop

“My joy is in leading a hidden life unknown to others.”—St. Euphrasia of the Sacred Heart

“The Lord has called us from different nations, but we must be united with one heart and one soul.” — St. Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad

Jesus does not directly take on social reform. Instead, he preaches a life of simplicity and nonviolence that is simply outside the system of power, money, and control. More than directly fighting the system, he ignores it and builds an alternative worldview where power, prestige, and possessions are not sought or even admired. Such withdrawal of allegiance is finally the most subversive act possible because the powers that be can no longer control us, either positively or negatively (by getting us to react against them). We are no longer inside their reward-and-punishment system.

“Charity enters heaven when humility opens the door.” —St. María Natividad Venegas de la Torre

Gianna Molla was a physician who loved her husband and children. When Gianna became pregnant again, she and Pietro agreed that she would stay home with the children after the baby’s birth. But at two months, Gianna was found to have a non-cancerous uterine tumor. The experts gave her three options: complete hysterectomy to remove the growth, which would also result in the baby’s death; removing the growth and terminating the pregnancy; or simply removing the tumor and continuing the pregnancy, knowing that complications could occur in the next seven months.