Today we read about Blessed Angela Salawa in the book In Caelo et in Terra. She was from Poland, where we get lots of great saints. Do you know who the king of Poland is today? Google it. If you don't already know, I guarantee it'll surprise you. Poland is a great place.
This saintly girl wanted to become a nun, but was unable to for various reasons, so instead she took a vow of celibacy and became a third order Franciscan. I've thought about becoming a third order Franciscan myself. Maybe I will one day if God allows it.
Towards the end of her life, she suffered something terrible. She was falsely accused of theft from her employer. She was fired, and fell into ill health, misunderstood by everyone in her family and her friends. She probably had multiple sclerosis, which they didn't understand at the time. She was taken care of by the Saint Zita Association, but died in a state of being misunderstood and falsely accused by most everyone she knew. If you want to learn more about her, read this.
Seems horrible, right? But she is available for your prayers. If you ask her, she will pray for you. Do you ever feel misunderstood? Ralph Waldo Emerson said one of my favorite quotes: "To be great is to be misunderstood." If you do something great in this world, like Bl Angela Salawa did, you will be misunderstood. So let's pray for each other, and be patient with one another.
Also, it's important to realize that sometimes God calls us to be misunderstood. To be attacked. To be alone. Because in that moment, we realize that He is what we really need, above all things. And because it's really good for getting rid of our pride and teaching us humility when people think of us badly. So take heart - if people misunderstand you, you're in good company!
God, thanks for the example of this wonderful, misunderstood girl. Bl Angela Salawa, pray for us.
1 comment:
Yes, I'm very misunderstood by my two daughters who do not know what really happened when their dad left, and later I had to send them as teens to live with him and his new wife!
They have no idea how I suffered, and I know they did also, but I know how they felt. Right now, the entire "family" is fragmented by money, politics and religion. I'm a Catholic and my then to be husband said he would become one, then he said for the kids to pick out their own religion. Well, they were near forty years old when I finally persuaded them to be baptized. This is what happens in divorce.
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