New Years traditions
There is a tradition in some cultures and Religious Orders for Epiphany is to randomly choose a holy card with either a virtue, the name of a saint and a quote or a combination of the three, to accompany you for the New Year. This is a really great tradition. It helps to give one a special focus and help throughout the New Year. And we know, we can use all the help we can get. I have holy cards that I received through the years, going back to my days in the seminary. Some of the cards only list a virtue and others a saints name and even a quote. I have all the holy cards around here somewhere, but I always place the latest one in my breviary so that I have the constant reminder.
This year, my holy card read “Hope.” There was no saint or quote on my holy card. But, I ran across a really cool website called the Saints Name Generator. So, I got my saint for 2016. Her name is: St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. I’ll write her name on my holy card and ask her to accompany me through the year with her aid and intercession. I will also make it a point to study her life and turn to her in my prayers.
If you want to get your Saint for 2016, just click here.
Thanks Padre….took your lead and went on the site to choose a saint for this year. Prayed to the Holy Spirit first for guidance and got a most powerful answer. My selected saint is St. Matthew the Apostle. Fitting since I am a bookkeeper by trade and my birthday is September 12th. His feast day is September 21st. Coincidence? I believe heaven is speaking and I must open my heart, mind, and ears to what is being said and the path I must take this coming year, starting with the total submerging into the life and gospel of this great saint. Now to find a prayer card to place in my reading Bible will be another challenge.
Thanks for all you do, father…..I truly enjoy your blogs and podcasts.
Dear Father, I have my saint for 2016, Saint Catherine of Sienna. What a beautiful patron for this jubilee year of the founding of the Dominican order 800 years ago, and of which Catherine was a lay member. Catherine lived a cloistered life within her own home. Later in obedience to God, she went out among the poor, worked tirelessly for reform of the Church, and was instrumental in bringing the papacy back to Rome from Avignon. I have put a holy card depicting Catherine in my wallet so that I will be reminded of her when I too am out in the world.
Father, thank you so much for this link. I got Bl. Sara Salkahazi, a Slovak (me too). She joined the Sisters of Social Service, who initially didn’t want the chain-smoking journalist. She saved 100 Jews during the war and was martyred by the Nazis. I’d never heard of her. Her motto was “Here I am, send me.” Her day is Dec. 27, my parent’s anniversary. Thanks again.