Amy Welborn is a contributor - five devotions per issue - to the Living Faith daily devotional .
What a richly layered feast this is. It’s the real and final end of the Christmas season: Until a few years ago, the Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square stayed up until this feast. It’s a day to remember and celebrate religious women and men. And over the centuries, the tradition has grown of bringing candles from home to church to be blessed on this day. Candles that, before electricity, would have been used throughout the year, not just for a decorative touch but to give light necessary for everyday living. The candles, then blessed, would shed not only natural light, but be a sign of Christ’s presence.
Among all the genres of viral videos out there, one that I find most affecting is one I’d call “Children meeting their newborn siblings for the first time.”
From teens to toddlers, those moments are nothing but joy. Even small children break into happy tears when their tiny swaddled-up brother or sister is gently placed in their arms. What a mysterious, profound bond is family love!
Could it be that part of Jesus’ “love language” is to gently and persistently remind me to never rest comfortably in my own worldview? That God always has more to reveal to me, and that I always have more to learn?
In many of these shrines, small and large, there’s another image too. It’s a photograph. An old woman. A child. A young man in a uniform. A candle flickers nearby.
Don’t forget, they say. You walk by and ask for prayers. Don’t forget to pray for us too.
A friend is going through a terrible, world-shifting time. Life today looks completely different than it did even six months ago. She’s done what she could, but she really can’t do any more. It’s hard and sad. We do what we can to accompany those in difficult places. But it’s a challenge to offer words that don’t end up sounding like empty platitudes, isn’t it? Or even, if we’re going through our own hard times, reading words like the psalmist’s and believing them.
A few years ago, I wandered into a little church in Ferrara, Italy, and saw a black and white photo of a woman religious in front of a tomb. This Sr. Veronica of the Blessed Sacrament was a Carmelite mystic who had died in 1964. Her canonization cause (in Italian) is: SuorVeronica.org.
I was struck, first, by the notion of running into a new-to-me saint around the corner. What surprising people and stories might I encounter anywhere if I’m paying attention?
For more of "The Saint Around the Corner" - please visit my new Substack-book-in-parts.
