In Our Domestic Cares

Our copy of the unabridged Butler's Lives of the Saints has been such an inspiration to me. How we came to own it is a funny story. I had borrowed the first volume from the library.  Upon returning they insisted it was damaged due to paint on the cover.  I paid for the book to be replaced, took the damaged volume home, and promptly discovered the "damage" wiped completely off.  Since it was now ours we began to read from it daily.  The detailed biographies of both major and lesser known saints have captivated me.  Today there was a rather long story of St Frances of Rome, who loved God intensely and assumed the best way to serve Him would be as a religious.  Her parents had other plans to which she acquiesced and she lived out her vocation as a wife and mother with every bit as much discipline and zeal. She famously quoted as saying,

"A married woman must leave God at the altar to find Him in her domestic cares;"

In her article here, Meg Hunter-Kilmer says:

"The trick of the devil is to convince us that our circumstances make holiness impossible. “Maybe I could have been a saint,” we think, “if I hadn’t married him or had so many children or gotten in that car accident or had an abortion or dropped out of college or become so bitter.”

St Frances pivoted admirably and threw herself into the vocation chosen for her, no excuses. It was precisely through circumstances she did not choose that she became a saint.  God sent her companions in this journey.  Her husband came to adore her and refused to put limits on her charitable work. Her sister-in-law became her closest friend and partner in serving the poor. Most miraculously, after a serious trial, God sent her an angel which was visible to her for the rest of her life though his image faded some when she committed some fault.  Clarity was restored each time when she righted her course.  

Her Bull of Canonization states that, “Her prayers and sufferings helped bring to end Western Schism (1378-1449), as well as the residence of popes in Avignon France.”  This is a terribly important reminder that we cannot know the fruits of our suffering and prayers but we must be assured that they are never wasted. St Frances was not a diplomat, she was a housewife. It was not her negotiations that ended the schism, but her private suffering and devotion. 

I hope you'll read the whole entry for her life in Butlers online here.  The Kindle version of Georgianna Fullerton's biography of the saint is currently free on Amazon. 

Comments

[Chris Valpiani]

Oh my gracious. Thank you. How inspiring!