Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 112

St. Gemma Galgani: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

St. Gemma Galgani was born on this date in 1878 in Italy and died on April 11, 1903. This mystic is known as the Daughter of Passion… she began to experience the holy stigmata when she was twenty-one.

Gemma also suffered greatly physically during her time on earth, including tuberculosis, which eventually claimed her life, spinal meningitis, abcesses, and deafness. However, many who knew her were unaware of these challenges as she preferred to keep quiet about them.

St. Gemma Galgani said Jesus...

Blessed Jacinta Marto: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

Blessed Jacinta Marto was born on this date in 1910 in Portugal and died shortly before her tenth birthday. She’s best remembered as one of the three children who in 1917 saw the Blessed Virgin at Fatima. The others were her brother Francisco and their cousin Lucia.

It’s said that Jacinta changed greatly through the experience, that she went from being a bubbly, chatty girl to a more introspective child greatly concerned about the need to save sinners. Jacinta died from complications experienc...

St. Anne Marie Eugenie of Jesus: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

Saint Anne Marie Eugenie of Jesus was born on August 25, 1817 in France and died on this date in Paris in 1898. Today, we’d say her family was culturally Catholic; she made her first communion when she was twelve, but otherwise, her parents were not very involved in their faith. Due to financial issues and the death of her mother, she spent much of her teen years with a rich family friend.

It was during Lent the year she turned nineteen that a homily at the Cathedral of Notre Dame set Anne Mar...

Of Lent, Love, and Food That Doesn’t Go Stale

I’m participating in the Keeping LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2014,hosted by theCatholic Bloggers Network.

We’ll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds and how to carry them out withLOVE instead of a GRUMBLE.

Please scroll to the five hostesses’ contact information at the bottom of my post so that you can click over to one of them and join in ifyou’d like!

When I was a child, we were allowed five candy b...

St. Frances of Rome: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

St. Frances of Rome was born in 1384 and died on this date in 1440. As a child, Frances wanted nothing more than to enter a convent. But not only did her parents marry her off when she was just twelve… she also had to leave home to live with her in-laws!

But it turned out the situation was blessing to Frances in so many ways. She and her husband Lorenzo were happily married for forty years. And… she found a dear spiritual friend in her sister-in-law Vanozza. Working together, they ministered t...

St. Katharine Drexel: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

St. Katharine Drexel was born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1858, and died not far away in Cornwell Heights, Pennsylvania, on March 3, 1955. We celebrated her feast day earlier this week. But Katharine did a lot of traveling—and ministry—beyond the Philadelphia region during her 96 years on earth.

Born into a wealthy, philanthropic family, Katharine began financing schools for Native Americans. When she was in her early 30s, she asked the pope to send some missionaries. He suggested she cons...

“The Fasting I Wish”

Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

The “giving up” part of Lent is the easy part, isn’t it? That’s not to say it’s simple to give up smoking or chocolate or wine or computer games or gossiping or losing one’s temper, but it can be done. After all, it’s only six weeks, right? Similarly, for adult Catholics, abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent may take a bit of effort or planning, but with al...

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are believed to have died on this date in the year 203 in Carthage. Perpetua, a young widow with a child… her slave, Felicity… and three others were imprisoned as Christians. The little band formed a community during their time together, a community Perpetua had not known with her own family, as her father, a pagan, had urged her to denounce Christianity. It’s said that they sang psalms as they went to their deaths.

Perpetua said to her father when he urged her to de...

St. Colette: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

St. Colette was born on January 13, 1381, in France, and died in Belgium on this date in 1447. She’s known for her efforts to return the Order of the Poor Clares to its simpler days of poverty and austerity, including advising her followers to go barefoot and fast frequently.

Colette said: “If there be a true way that leads to the everlasting kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering, patiently endured.”

Lent is a time of reflecting on Christ’s suffering and ultimatesacrifice for us. Whil...

St. Maria Goretti: 2014 Daily Lenten Reflections

St. Maria Goretti was born in Italy on October 16, 1890, and died on July 6, 1902. You probably know at least part of her story: she was stabbed to death by a man who was attempting to rape her. What you may not know is that this child, who was only 11 years old, forgave the man on her deathbed with the words: “Through the love of Jesus, I forgive him with all my heart.” Her attacker had a conversion experience in prison. He became a monastery gardener upon his release, and attended her canon...