Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 23

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Flora of Beaulieu

The Basics: Born about 1309 in France; died in 1347 in France; canonized pre-congregation; feast day, October 5. Woman religious; mystic.

The Story: Flora grew up in a household full of people and likely noise. In addition to their own ten children, her parents raised nine nieces

MOSSOT [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]

and nephews! From an early age, Flora’s love of God was evident, and so her parents were not surprised when at fourteen or so, she asked permissio...

“I Have Seen the Lord”

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

She thought it was the gardener.

Sometimes, we think it’s that person at work who frustrates us, that women who stands on the left instead of the right on a Metro escalator, that man who sits in front of us at Mass and smells a little and sings off-key.

Sometimes we think it’s the person whom we love more than anyone else on earth, that mentor w...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Eustadiola

The Basics: Born 594 in France; died 684 in France; canonized pre-congregation; feast day, June 8. Wife, mother, woman religious.

The Story: Things didn’t quite work out as expected for Eustadiola. The daughter of a noble family in Bourges, Eustadiola married at a young age. The couple proceeded to have a son, and sometime thereafter, perhaps not long, Eustadiola was widowed–a very wealthy widow, one might add.

Like other storied saints, Eustadiola chose to leave all that wealth behind. She e...

Stumbling in the Dark

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

Oh, how we love to judge Peter. Cocky, scared, dense, literal Peter.

We hear it in today’s readings. We heard it Sunday, Peter’s boast that he would lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus calls him on it, and of course, Jesus is right. Within hours, Peter has not laid down his life for Jesus but has denied him three times.

And we know we would never...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Buonadonna de’ Segni

The Basics: Born c. 1181 in Italy; died April 28, 1260, in Italy; beatified in local tradition; feast day, April 28 (husband). Wife, lay Franciscan.

The Story: The story of Buonadonna and her better-known husband, Luchesio Modestini is truly one of loved ones helping each other to grow in Christ. The couple married relatively young, and became engaged in business together, first as bankers and then as grain dealers.

Abraham [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]

Their...

That Wretched Food

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

… so the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” (Numbers 21:5, NABRE)

 Let’s be honest. The food can seem a bit wretched in the moment.

Sure, you know that weekly or monthly turn at the food pantry is imp...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Delphina

The Basics: Born about 1282 in France; died November 26, 1358, in France; beatified in 1694; feast day, December 9. Wife, lay Franciscan.

The Story: Today, we might call Delphina spunky, and her faith and spunk certainly inspired others.

The child was orphaned shortly after birth and was raised under the guidance of uncles as well as an aunt who was an abbess. Given her pedigree, the decision was made to betroth her to a count, Elzear. The wedding occurred when Delphina as fifteen and Elzear...

The Desire for Health

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

“Do you want to be well?”

They are among the most challenging words Jesus speaks to anyone he encounters.

“Do you want to be well?”

The man to whom He says this in John 5 has been sick for thirty-eight years. The man has been lying in a portico near the Bethesda pool. Of course he wants to be healed, right?

“Do you want to be well?”

But when Jes...

On the Nightstand: Be Brave in the Scared

It was September 27, 1992, and Mary and Jerry Lenaburg were at the baptism of their second child and first daughter, Courtney. It was then that Courtney had the first of what would be many grand-mal seizures in her twenty-two years of life.

I’ve heard Mary’s amazing story of faith and what caring for Courtney taught her, Jerry, and their son Jonathan about surrender, forgiveness, and love. This month, I’m delighted to be reading that story on the page in Be Brave in the Scared: How I Learned...

Friends in Faith: MEG Gilroy

Mary Ellen Gilroy was one of the Mother Cabrini girls in northern Manhattan, and she’s got some interesting stories about what it was like to go to school at the very same place where the first U.S. saint was laid to rest. (Far more interesting, I might add, than my whine about wishing I’d gone to Laura Ingalls Wilder Grade School in my South Dakota hometown.) MEG’s also got some great stories about her time in the Foreign Service, from Canada to Haiti to Morocco and Malaysia and more. I lea...