St Genevieve: Bravery in the Face of Disaster

 Today in the book In Caelo et in Terra we read about St Genevieve. You can read more about her here.

She was the daughter of devout Christians. We're seeing a very strong theme these first few days of the new year. Seems like if you want to change the world, you should have lots of children and raise them to be saints. 

St Genevieve was a consecrated virgin. Many think that the Blessed Virgin Mary was also a consecrated virgin, which means she was planning to marry Joseph to be protected by him but not to have children by him. Which makes much of the story of Jesus's birth make sense.

She faced many challenges in her life. Rome was falling apart, so there was political and military turmoil everywhere. Attila the Hun came to attack Paris, and when she urged the city to pray for deliverance, Attila suddenly left for no known reason. When a Frankish king attacked Paris, she boldly led a group of people to get grain so they wouldn't starve due to the siege. 

Today we face challenges too. And we, too, can be brave like St Genevieve. Remember, you're not being brave if you're not afraid. It's OK to be scared - just trust God through your fear.

God, thanks for giving us the great example of St Genevieve.