October is a wonderful month! Not only does God treat us with the spectacular color show of autumn, but we also enjoy such a wonderful procession of saints through the next thirty-one days.
* First up -- and of particular note (yesterday) is the feast of
the Holy Guardian Angels on October 2nd. Not enough can be said to honor and thank our very own personal angels. God is so good to show us this special token of His love for us! Every person ever born gets his or her unique Angel Guardian. It's amazing to think about!
I've related angel stories in posts many times I think, but have I mentioned practice of praying for the name of your angel -- and/or your children's angels? Dan and I have received the names (or, at least the names we believe the children's angels want to be called) of all our children while they were still in the womb. It's a comfort to call on each of them by name when we have special worries or intentions concerning each of the ten. After the rosary every evening, we salute all of them, each of us in turn, and remember each of the angels of all of our family members who are not at home. In order, starting with Dan (and including our daughter-in-law and grandbaby), we salute Angels: Matthew, Dorian, Louis, Tony, Joseph, Anthony, Mark, Barbara, Angela-Catherine, Lucy, Judy, Augustine, and Oliver. Thank-you, dear Angels!
* October 3rd is the feast day of
our dearly loved St. Therese of Lisieux. We love this "little" saint so much, we named our sixth child, fourth daughter specifically for her. She is the saint who promised a shower of roses on the world once she entered her heavenly reward, and she hasn't disappointed us. A miracle alone is the fact that in this saecular-minded world, most everyone,
Catholic and non Catholic alilke know who the "Little Flower" is.
* On October 4th, it's the feast of the
great St. Francis of Asissi. Popularly known as the saint who loved animals, St. Francis' real claim to fame is his deep and transforming love of Christ. The first saint known to have been gifted with the stigmata, St. Francis is also said to have been the one man most like Christ.
* Then comes
Friday the 7th of October, the
feast of the
Most Holy Rosary, one of the great feasts of Our Lady and the devotion for which the month of October is dedicated.
* On the
8th of October, we celebrate the
holy life of
St. Bridget of Sweden.
* Then on
October 11th,
we honor Our Blessed Mother once again on the
Feast of the Divine Maternity, celebrating the motherhood of Mary.
* Followed by the
Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on
October 13th (which shares the feast of King St. Edward) and recalls to mind the apparitions of Our Blessed Mother to the three Portuguese children, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia -- and particularly
the messages and warnings given them for the benefit of the modern world.
* On the
15th of October, we find
the feast day of a new friend of mine,
St. Teresa of Avila, the great mystic and reformer of the Carmelite Order.
* The next day,
October 16th is the feast of
St. Gerard Majella,
the patron saint of expectant mothers (and incidentally, it's the feast of another family friend of ours,
St. Hedwig, too)
* Then, on
October 17th, we celebrate the feast day of
the visionary of the Sacred Heart, St. Margaret Mary
* And, the evangelist
St. Luke's feast is the following day,
October 18th.
* Two more apostles' feast fall ten days later on
October 28th,
Saints Simon and Jude.
* Then we close a month of awesome saints with
the great feast of
Christ the King on October 30th.
God willing I'll be able to post reprints and plans for these feasts throughout the month -- with coloring pages if nothing else, and links to sites whose blog-mistresses and masters are more on top of their games than I am. I'm going to try at least!
Happy and Holy October, Everyone!!
* Repost from 2011
that's a lotof saints!
ReplyDeleteIt's no wonder why October is also the month of the Holy Rosary. With all of our beloved saints to be celebrated this month, we'd never run out of saints to pray to and things to pray for.
ReplyDelete