I was in 8th grade when I received the Sacrament of Confirmation. During the preparation process you are supposed to choose a patron saint, and I was having trouble picking one. I grew up reading about the saints but no particular one was really sticking out to me. If it were now, I probably would have picked St. Paul or St. Philip Neri, or maybe even Zelie Martin. But at the time, I chose St. Bridget of Sweden.
Not the Destination...
There are two methods of evangelization. One where you’re trying, and one where you’re living. Both can be valid and effective to varying degrees. Let’s focus on the second one for a moment. Children are experts, here. When you are very young, you don’t really care about offending people. You say what’s in your heart without any of the barriers that prevent adults from doing the same. The following story is an example of what can happen when you share your faith in all honesty and innocence.
It was this time last year, as the second synod on the family was about to get underway and would be closed with the first ever canonisation of a married couple (namely Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of the even more renowned St.Therese of Lisieux or Little Flower) that much comment was made about the holiness of the married state. That despite their outstanding heroic virtue and personal sanctity, nevertheless, the raising to the altars of St. Therese’s parents reminded us that;