SAINT OF THE DAY 16 OCTOBER / WORD OF THE DAY 16 OCTOBER

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Date 16 October

The Saint of the Day presents a daily calendar of Saints remembered by the Church. The pages feature the stories of the great witnesses of Christian life through the centuries, lighting our way on our journey of faith.

ST.HEDWIG, DUCHESSE OF POLONIA, RELIGIOUS

True nobility consists in serving those most in need. This was a notable aspect of the life of Saint Hedwig, Duchess of Silesia and of Poland, and later a religious in a Cistercian monastery. She lived in the 12th century. Her feast is celebrated by the Church each year on October 16.  

It was not difficult to demonstrate charity, even if the body was clothed in silk and a tiara rested on one’s head. Providing for the poor was a common practice for nobles in the Middle Ages. Even if some were motivated by a careless philanthropy, many others were inspired by a genuine piety. But whether done out of choice or obligation, this custom was the rule… and rules were meant to be broken.

The richness of poverty

St Hedwig was the exception to the rule. In the latter part of the 12^th century, she was married to the Duke of Lower Silesia, Henry the Bearded. She soon became a mother, ultimately giving birth to six children.

From the beginning, the young duchess seemed to her subjects like a beautiful queen: not because of her regal attire, but on account of her prompt generosity, which was always ready to comfort and support the poorest and most needy among them. Although she herself was German, she was close to her people, and learnt from them their Polish language. She was so modest that she was able, in an unheard of way, to disregard the fashions that her rank would have imposed upon her. Hedwig was not too proud to dress herself in used clothing and old shoes. She did not want to stand out from the poor, because, she said, “they are our masters.”

The duchess who became a religious sister

Hedwig expressed this conviction to Gertrude, the youngest of her six children.  Her life as a wife and mother had been filled with many sorrows. The duchess, who had stood by her husband and assisted him in his duty of governing, had witnessed the death of three sons and two of her three daughters. She bore her pain with composure, a result not only of the attitudes of her time and culture, but of her strong Christian faith. She found comfort in the daily life of faith and prayer.

As time passed, she found herself attracted more and more to consecrated life. After the death of her husband, entering into a monastery was a natural step for Hedwig to enter a monastery. She chose the Cistercian monastery of Trebnitz, which Hedwig herself had founded in 1202. The duchess took up the religious habit of a lay sister. When she died, on 15 October 1243, no one had any doubts: it was the death of a saint. She was formally canonized by Pope Clement IV in 1267.

ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE, APOSTLE OF THE SACRED HEART

ST. GERARD MAJELLA, LAY REDENTORIST

WORD OF THE DAY

Date16/10/2023

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

READING OF THE DAY

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
Rom 1:1-7

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,
called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God,
which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
the Gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh,
but established as Son of God in power
according to the Spirit of holiness
through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him we have received the grace of apostleship,
to bring about the obedience of faith,
for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,
among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;
to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 11:29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here."

WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER

Jonah was inside the whale for three nights and three days, a reference to Jesus in the tomb – to His death and Resurrection – and that is the sign that Jesus promises, against hypocrisy, against this attitude of perfect religiosity, against this attitude of a group of Pharisees.

The true sign of Jonah is the one that gives us the confidence of being saved by the blood of Christ. How many Christians think that they will be saved only for what they do, for their works. Works are necessary, but they are a consequence, a response to that merciful love that saves us. But works alone, without this merciful love, are of no use. There are two words in the first reading that connect with this. Paul says of himself that he is an apostle not because he studied this, no: an apostle by calling. And to Christians, he says, 'You are called by Jesus Christ.' The sign of Jonah calls us: to follow the Lord, sinners as we all are, with humility, with meekness. There is a call, even a choice." (Santa Marta, 14 October 2013)