YYYSunday, November 05, 2006
Today's session was on the saints. I think St. Tarcisius is such an admirable saint. He lived during the time when the Christians were being persecuted. The pope wanted to get the holy Eucharist to the Christians who were on death row in prison, so St. Tarcisius who was only 10 at that time volunteered to bring it to them, at risk of death. On the way to there, he was stopped by a group of pagans who demanded to see what he was hiding close to his heart. St. Tarcicius refused so they stoned him to death. Till his death he refused to let them see/touch the Eucharist because he did not want them to defile it.
In the end the Eucharist that St. Tarcisius was sending did get delievered to the prison by a Christian soldier who chanced upon the scene, but what I felt was so amazing was that he was just 10 years old when he died for Christ. It makes me so embarrassed and ashamed that such a young boy was so strong in faith while I am not :(
There are so many other remarkable Saints that I should aspire towards. So many Saints who were so much younger yet so much wiser than I am.
I think it is so wonderful that God wants for us all to become saints, and that All Saints Day is actually a celebration of this call to sainthood for all of us, as much as it is a celebration of the deeds of past Saints.
I shall type out the story that Jacq told me and Kylie (or is it Kylie and I?) the other day:
Once a grandfather told his grandson that he must read the bible and read it well, because it contained the word of God, which was the most important thing of all. But the little boy complained. The bible is such a thick book, he said. I can never remember everything that is in it and everything is said in such a roundabout way that I do not understand.
The grandfather did not persue the matter. Instead, he gave the boy an old pot (the type used to put plants in) and instructed him to bring back some water from the well. The boy did as he was told, but by the time he came back, there was no water left in the pot, for there were cracks at the bottom of it.
He was afraid that his grandfather would chide him, but instead, his grandfather said. Look at the bottom of the pot- While it was once dirty and full of mud it is now clean. For although the water came out of the pot through the cracks, the water took the dirt away with it. It is the same with reading the bible. Although you might not feel it, as you read it, your soul is being cleansed and healed. You are being changed from within. Such is the power of God's Word.
I think it's such a beautiful story! And it's certainly strengthened my resolve the read the bible more and more duitifully.
Afterall, what can be better to read than the word of God himself?
2:40 PM
