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Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day
Blessed Eugene III
Feast Day: July 08
Died: 1153
Peter dei Paganelli di Montemagno was born near Pisa in Italy. When Peter grew up, he became a priest and worked in Pisa for a few years. Later, he felt the need to get closer to God and joined the Cistercian monks in Clairvaux in France.
St. Bernard was the superior at the monastery of Clairvaux. His feast day is August 20. Peter respected Bernard and the two soon became good friends. Peter too chose "Bernard" for his religious name and tried to live like the saint. St. Bernard sent his namesake, Bernard, to become the superior of a monastery in Rome called Tre Fontaine. Then in 1145, Pope Lucius II died and a most unusual thing happened. When the cardinals met at the funeral of the pope, they decided to elect the new pope as quickly as possible. And together they elected Abbot Bernard to be pope. The abbot, who was not a cardinal, did not attend the meeting. He was shocked when he was told. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was surprised too. He felt sorry for Bernard. He wrote an open letter to the cardinals: "May God forgive you for what you have done," he said. "You have involved in responsibilities and placed among many people a man who fled them both." Accepting God's will, Bernard chose to be called Pope Eugene III. His time as pope brought him many difficulties. The Roman senate threatened to oppose him if he did not let them keep stolen property. A man who was earlier sent away from the country went to Pope Eugene and asked forgiveness. But he soon fell back into his old ways. He even joined a group that was directly against the pope. Pope Eugene had to leave Rome a few times because of the dangers surrounding him. One of his fellow monks wrote to St. Bernard of Clairvaux about Pope Eugene: "There is no arrogance or domineering way in him." St. Antoninus, called Pope Eugene "a great pope with great sufferings." Pope Eugene died on July 8, 1153 at Tivoli in Italy. |
14th Week in Ordinary Time
All the world came to Joseph. (Genesis 41:57)
If anyone had reason to break ties with his family and his God, Joseph did. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, Joseph found himself in a foreign country. Yet look at his faithfulness! In each new position—slave, prison inmate, then administrator—Joseph looked to God for wisdom and for strength to serve. He resisted temptations that cropped up at every turn. In the end, Joseph proved himself to his brothers by lavishing mercy on them. It’s a pretty safe guess that God delighted in Joseph’s faithfulness!
But at its heart, the story of Joseph is really a story of God’s faithfulness. After all, it was God who blessed all that Joseph did and gave him the remarkable spiritual insights that caught Pharaoh’s eye. In his own timing, God raised Joseph to the world’s stage, as we see in today’s first reading. And you could say that God was even faithful to his miscreant brothers who sold him into slavery. He saved them from famine and brought them into fertile Goshen.
So what does this mean for you today? Well, for one, it means that God honors your faithfulness too. He sees your devotion in praying and serving and loving. He hears your prayers. He remembers you. He considers your sacrifices, even the small ones that you think go unnoticed. Even when you’re not faithful to him, because we all make mistakes, he remains true to you.
It also means that today, he is working behind the scenes. He’s using your faithfulness to do more than you can probably imagine. When you feel imprisoned by guilt, fear, or resentment, he is at work, forging a way out for you. When you feel unable to forgive someone who has wronged you, he is at work, finding ways to help you soften your heart. Just as he worked through Joseph’s challenging situations, even when it seemed hopeless, your faithful Father is working in you. So hang in there! Try your best to be faithful, and trust that he will raise you up in his own time and in his own way. Always remember that God loves writing long tales of faithfulness.
“Lord, your faithfulness stretches to the heavens! Thank you that your gaze of love is on me today.”
Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19
Matthew 10:1-7