Transcript

When I was about 14 years old, we lived near Washington, DC, and, uh, my uncle happened to be staying with us.

And we were driving through Emmitsburg, and there's this shrine to Elizabeth Ann Seton that the, the Not the church, but the shrine can be seen from the highway.

And my uncle just said, Well, let's stop and go, go see that.

He wasn't a particularly d- I mean, I didn't have a faith type of relationship with my uncle, but for whatever reason, he was compelled to stop.

And we went, and I knew, I could sense, um, a deep spirituality about the place.

There was a palpable spirituality about the place.

And I remember the, the candles and the heat from all the candles, and I remember the walk through the woods, and, um, um, I never forgot that.

I knew it was a special, special place, and she must've been a special person.

I never had an anti-saint experience, never.

But this one place, um, I'll n- I'll never forget it, and I don't even know why my uncle stopped there.

It was years later, as I'm on the, on the road, if you will, um, to coming into, to the Church, um, I decided I wanted to know everything about her.

Um, and so, I, I, I got a book on, uh, all of the primary sources from Elizabeth Ann Seton, and I read everything about her life and her dir- uh, diaries and so on.

Um, I didn't know, for example, when I was 14, I had no context for knowing this, but, but she was a Protestant convert.

And her family was unhappy when she converted, and she had five children.

And the youngest child is named Rebecca.

My youngest daughter's named Rebecca.

Um, eh, again, sort of stopped me in my tracks.

I, I, I felt a deep connection, had to have felt the deep connection, even at 14, although I had not the words to de- describe it.

Um, so for me, my experience of the saints is truly one of, of friendship and companionship, um, and understanding.

They lived in this world that's difficult and tough and challenging, so it's, it's always been one of, um, companionship.

So when I was, um, going through confirmation, I had to pick a confirmation saint, and, uh, the saint I picked was Saint John Baptist de la Salle.

Uh, and the reason I did it is because my high school and middle school, uh, was really, uh, uh It's called La Salle College and it's to honor, um, uh, Saint John Baptist de la Salle.

And, and one thing, you know, really, w- why I, why I picked this saint is that, uh, back in my high school, we're one of the very, very few, um, Catholic schools that are public.

And, and, uh, the reason is that, you know, our school principal, uh, really wanted to maintain the school to, to be public where it is for everyone and not just for people that can afford it.

And, and I really, really like the idea of that.

And you know, I think that that's really is the, the way that, that the Church teaches us and how, you know, education is for everyone, everyone should have an opportunity.

So, so with that, uh, you know, I think, uh, Saint John Baptist de la Salle, it's, uh, it's a easy candidate for me, uh, for my confirmation saint.

I chose as my confirmation sponsor Saint Monica.

Actually, I, I really think she more chose me.

Um, she's the patroness of mothers, and as a mother of 12 children now, I can see how, uh, God had a plan for me, she had a plan for me from the beginning.

And while I had a very loose connection with her when I chose her, um, that relationship has really deepened over time.

Um, and a friend once told me when I was, when I was trying to discern my way through this topic, she said, You're not praying to the saint, like you're praying to Jesus.

You're asking the saint, you're asking Mary, to pray for you, to p- to, to help you, to intercede for you, um, in whatever difficult time, whatever, whatever your intention is at that time, to help you get through that.

So, and that clicked for me in a way, because it, I wouldn't think twice about asking my next door neighbor, Please pray for me.

I'm, I'm sick, or My husband's sick, or My husband is having difficulties with this.

Please pray for us.

You're asking the saint to pray for you in the exact same way.

And they're in heaven with God, and they were on Earth and struggled through the same things as, as we do here now.

And, um, in a way, it's just really cool to acknowledge that, that once someone passes away, they're not gone from this world forever.

They're, they're in heaven, and they, they want to work on our behalf.

As far as, um, Our Lady, I mentioned earlier that, um, part of I believe she prayed me into the Church.

Um, and I, I remember overhearing a colleague one time, a, a priest chaplain was talking to a young man who said he thought he wanted to come into the Catholic Church.

And I overheard the priest's advice.

The priest said, Here's a rosary, and here's how you pray.

Start praying the rosary.

Well, I didn't tell anyone that I had overheard that, but that's exactly what I started doing too.

I prayed the rosary more intensely because I had already been introduced to the, to the rosary.

So Our Lady, um, has truly been a spiritual mother to me, and, uh, continues to be, and she's a major part of my, uh, spirituality and my devotional life.

Throughout the confirmation saint process where you can pick a saint that, um, to really be, be a part of you, I think that form of relationship, uh, with the saint that you pick, and, and with, with that, you know, I think, what, what's important about that is that on an everyday basis, you can always think about, Okay, I, you know, I have a relationship with Jesus.

I have a relationship with God.

I have a relationship with, with Mary, but I also have a relationship with, um, someone that I admire, that was, you know, uh, a saint that I admire that was, that was in human form.

And, you know, something that you can develop on a day-to-day basis that can help guide you, uh, on your, on your journey, uh, throughout your life.

And, you know, I think, I think a lot of, a lot of, um, the saints out there are someone that, you know, did something that extremely admirable that we can, we can all follow the footsteps.

So we have them not only as a model but as an advocate for us.

And I make use of Saint Monica.

I love Saint Therese of Lisieux.

Um, she, she's a doctor of the church, and her, she taught her little way.

Small sacrifices, little acts of love.

Um, that was her path to heaven, and that's something that I can really connect with.

It's something, um, that I feel is attainable for me.

You know, the big grandiose, you know, make it to heaven, and that is the goal, right?

But what do you do?

How do you get there along the way?

And Saint Therese says, You know, just make small sacrifices every day.

Do little things, little acts of love, little acts of kindness.

That's something that I can, that's something I can do in, in the c- chaos of my life with my 12 children and running here, there, and yon, and all of the activities.

Um, I can still find time to make those small sacrifices, those small acts.

I, I've, I talk to the saints regularly, um, on behalf of my children and ask for their help in different areas.

You know, I feel like they each have their specialty, and when you know your children well and understand what it is that they're struggling with, you can go to those saints and say, Hey, I've got a kid who's, who's really struggling in this way.

Would you please intercede for him?

Um, would you please help him out?

Would you please, um, be his buddy?

You know, follow him, follow him around and help guide him along the path so that he can attain the end goal of heaven?