Sister Theresa Clair
Today is Valentines day…
St. Valentine’s day…
A Roman Catholic Saint, a martyr for Jesus
I have Sponge Bob Square Pants and Care Bear valentines taped to my wall.
One of my students bought his sweetheart a box of candy but was too embarrassed to give it to her. I love and am in love with Pastor Art – my husband, my friend…
Funny twist of fate here…
My baby sister sent me an email to tell me my great aunt fell and broke her hip.
I didn’t even know that my great aunt was still alive. Isn’t that awful? She is a Catholic Nun. Has been for over 75 years. She is being well cared for. But I haven’t been in touch with her for years.
She is a gentle soul. She is my Grandmother’s youngest sister. She is the only one of 4 children still alive. I have many fond memories of her frequent visits to our home. She always came with a friend. They had to travel in twos. My grandma – nanny, always did her best cooking on the days that Aunt Gertrude came to visit. My grandpa Tom was always on his best behavior. Aunt Gertrude was always interested in everything I said and did. I’d be her “Shirley Temple” . She and her friend (which ever one it was…Sister Danny, Sister Bernadette, Sister Mary Catherine…)
Were a great audience. She was disappointed when she found out that I “left the Church.”
So I was thinking about my great aunt and a friend of mine sent me one of those silly, say a prayer and make a wish type emails, this one was called the prayer of Saint Theresa
And it touched my heart because my aunt’s nun name is Sister Theresa Clair – all her nun friends call her Theresa…
So In honor of a gentle, noble, godly woman:
Saint Theresa is known as the Saint of the Little Ways. Meaning she believed
in doing the little things in life well and with great love.
She is also the patron Saint of flower growers and florists. She is
represented by roses.
St. Theresa's Prayer:
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that
has been given to you....
May you be content knowing you are a child of God....
Let his presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom
to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.
19 comments:
Thank You Bridget, I got this off your site...
St. Valentine, whom the Church honors with a Feast this day a Roman priest imprisoned for courageously professing his Catholic Faith, and helping other Christians to do so, during the persecutions of Claudius the Goth about the year 269.
One account of the circumstances of his end has it that as he could not be with his congregation, he never ceased to think about them and pray for them. He wished to communicate with them, so he sent from the prison a dove with the message: "Remember your Valentine." From this it may be that the custom derives of exchanging greeting cards on this day.
St. Valentine was eventually martyred. The prefect of Rome commanded that he be beaten with clubs and afterwards beheaded. The martyr was buried on the Flaminian Way, one of the great roads leading out of the city of Rome. It is known that a catacomb was constructed near the area of St. Valentine's tomb.
In Latin, the name for a dovecot, also applied to the little niches in which bodies were placed in a catacomb, is columbarium, where the doves, the columbae, made their nests. It may be that the truth of the story of the dove is embedded in the historical reality of the catacomb. Later a basilica was built over the spot.
Far from representing mere sentimentalism, the red color and the hearts that are so prevalent this day recall the fact that St. Valentine gave his body's red heart and his life's blood as a martyr for his Catholic Faith.
Happy Valentine's Day Maryellen. I will pray for Sister Theresa Clair, and I will continue to pray for you. I read once that Valentine married couples during a time that Roman law forbade marriage (all men were to serve in the military or something like that? a marriage moritorium so to speak). He performed "illegal" marriages for those couples that wanted to santify their union in the eyes of God and in accordance with their faith. (just another little tidbit -- didn't check my facts).
http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm#story
Okay, I looked it up and this is a link to the part of the story I remember (a little different but along the same lines).
Happy Valentines Day! Love never fails!
Another part of the St. Valentine story that wasn't in that little piece that I posted was that in addition to sending the message "remember your Valentine" he also wrote "LOVE JESUS WITH ALL YOUR HEART." That is probably another reason why we use hearts to signify Valentine's Day but do you see where the world took that little tidbit of info? We have trouble even mentioning the name of Jesus today! If we all loved Jesus with all our hearts, what a wonderful world this would be!
Also, it is said that the birds begin mating on this day. My friend sent me an email yesterday and said that every year a cardinal sits in the tree outside her window and begins to sing. That is really beautiful as well!
Thank you MaryEllen for visiting and for posting this on your site so others can learn some of the history of our wonderful Church!
Odd enough that the church promotes a Saint who performed illegal marriages, since the church it is that interferes with the legality of them now.
yeah...I can see why that seems odd...the question is why are/were the marriages illegal, and why was/is the church against or in favor of them.
It is a complicated issue.
We would need to start discussing the definition and purpose of marriage -
and many "christians" don't want to acknowlege St. Valentine or St. Anyone because that's Catholic.
Depends if you want to follow the Biblical definition of a saint or the RC's definiton.
The saints are the sanctified ones i.e. all who are members of the Body of Christ. The pope's approval, attributed miracles etc. are not required for one to become a "saint"
So Chris - you are considered a "saint" and someone like St. Valentine or St. Francis is questionable just because the church canonized them? Wow, could I have your autograph? It might be valuable in years to come!
Please read what I wrote.
I did not say Valentinus or Francis were questionable. I said all the sanctified are saints.
That is what the scriptures actually say. God does the snctifying, and Christ is our sanctification, according to 1 Cor 1:30
I am a saint, as it is the Lord who has made me one.
Magesterial decree, and the popes canonization are irrelevant.
I agree with the Biblical statement put forth by Chris P. But, unfortunately, I sense Kim's dissolusionment with "us saints" because we perhaps do not act very "saintly" sometimes.
And, I am not talking about any kind of works based sanctification. I am just saying that sometimes we do not "walk in the light as He is in the light..."
Great post Maryellen. I love some of those old prayers that are written in the old Prayer Books of the Catholic or Anglican churches.
~Kevin
I believe the Bible uses the word saint for believers, dead and alive...
I agree with Chris that the Bible designates living believers as Saints in many places. I do not believe a lot of the myths and mysteries that the RC have taught over the years about the saints...but I see no reason not to honor a person, be that person Moses, Noah, Bernadette or Valentine for living a life of faith and sacrifice.
...Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...if we couldn't learn something from the stories of believers gone by, then why tell any stories at all?
"We would need to start discussing the definition and purpose of marriage."
So, then, shall we?
So where could this go?
A discussion of marriage?
A discussion of sainthood?
A discussion of marrying a saint - I know I did.
A discussion of pure love vs. selfish love. Human love vs. divine love????
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
I love that! I too was raised Catholic but am now Non-Denominational Christian. I still feel fine attending a Catholic Mass as well as a Protestant service. We are all Christian.
I agree with you MCP, although I've met a lot of "Christians" who don't.
Lately we have been attending an Episcopalian Church where a friend of ours is the priest. Their congregation is going through a hard time because of the homosexual issue, this particular church is taking a Biblical stand and disassociating itself from the American branch of the denomination and affiliating itself with the Biblically Faithful African branch.
The "mass" is very Catholic and I didn't realize how much I missed weekly communion. And the worship is so "Holy" so Sacred.
"So where could this go?
A discussion of marriage?
A discussion of sainthood?
A discussion of marrying a saint - I know I did.
A discussion of pure love vs. selfish love. Human love vs. divine love???? "
Sounds good. Lets tackle it all. You have such good insight, and so many of your readers have such well thought out responses. Lets take them all and see where we end up. :)
OK, let me think about this one...sounds like an awfully broad topic to handle.
Well we don't necessarily have to hit it all in one shot.
I found out today that Sr. Theresa Clair is 99 years old, no wonder I was surpirsed to find out she was still alive...
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