Celebrating St. Lucy, a Young Woman of Faith!

To be a woman of faith, even when you're just beginning to think of becoming a woman someday, means to reflect the light of Christ so brightly, that people see past your clothes and your friends and your plans. People see not just who you are right now, but who you were meant to be.  It means to grab Jesus so tightly, it's hard for even you to tell where his work stops and yours begins.
-Calee M. Lee, author of Women of Faith

With St. Lucia Day coming up on December 13, I wanted to tell you about a beautiful new picture book that celebrates not only St. Lucia, but twelve other brave women saints as well!

The book is Women of Faith, written by Calee M. Lee and illustrated by Lisa Graves. Each of the saints is featured with her own story, a short prayer and a luminous watercolor portrait.

Calee's sweet introduction at the front of the book about her "friends" from both Orthodox and Catholic traditions is heartwarming. She gives a beautiful explanation about why we call them saints, and she writes directly to her young readers who will want to hear these stories over and over again...

I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine.  As girls, I'm sure they were funny and brave, just like you.  The loved flowers and their families and the chance to play with friends.  As they grew, they learned to be brave and kind and love everyone around them.  From this, we can know them hundreds and hundreds of years after they died

I'm enthralled with the exciting stories and their pairing with Lisa Graves' gorgeous medieval-style paintings.  The book's large 8 and 1/2-by 11-inch format showcases the illustrations perfectly.  

Young girls will be drawn to the portraits of these early Christian women saints and martyrs from around the world (prettier inside and out than any Disney Princesses!), who lived and died so courageously.

Included are St. Genevieve of Paris, St. Brigid of Ireland, St. Hermione, and St. Barbara, to name a few.

Now I'll leave you with a prayer for St. Lucia'a Day:

O Saint Lucy, your faith in God was a light in the world.  Give me that same light in my soul so that I may avoid evil, be brave in performing good works and hate nothing more than the blindness and darkness of evil and sin. Pray to God for me that my eyes will see clearly and that I will use them for God's glory.

An Extra Dose of Humililty from the New Pope Elicits Hope, and Softens the Hearts of Journalists

[Credit to Catholic Memes on Facebook]

Today, while sipping my last cup of french-pressed coffee with cream (tomorrow is the first day of Orthodox Lent), I was perusing the Sunday paper - which isn't always a pleasant experience (the news, not the coffee!) - when an article on the next-to-last page of the News Section caught my eye: "The Pope's Blessing for the Press".  Really??  Yup!

Pope Francis met with journalists who have been covering his selection at the Vatican, where he not only discussed the choice of his papal name but also gave them an exhortation and blessing. 

His undeniable humility elicited applause (and even some tears) from reporters as he blessed them and assured them that "the church, for her part, is very attentive to your precious work"... 

The Exhortation
Here's the exhortation (which made me jump up and down with joy, as a writer and reader who recommends "good" books for young souls) :

"Like many other professions, your job requires study, sensitivity, and experience.  But it bears with it a particular attention to truth, goodness and beauty.  This makes us particularly close because the church exists to communicate truth, goodness and beauty 'in person.'  It should be clear that we are all called, not to communicate ourselves, but rather...truth, goodness, and beauty."

Papal Name

So how did Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio come to choose the name "Francis"?  He said that at the election, his dear friend Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who was next to him, hugged him when the votes reached the two-thirds, saying "Do not forget the poor."  

"And that word stuck here - the poor, the poor.  Then immediately in relation to the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi...for me he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and safeguards creation.  Oh how I wish for a church that is poor and for the poor!"

Painting by Marilyn Moyes

The Blessing

The article stated that even though the Pope, "Papa Francesco" didn't say the traditional Latin blessing and make the sign of the cross over the journalists, "he had, indeed, blessed us."

"From my heart I impart this blessing, in silence, to each of you, respecting the conscience of each one, but knowing that each of you is a child of God: May God bless you." 

Cathleen Falsani, the journalist who wrote the article, ended by saying, "There were tears in the eyes of some hard-headed (yet grudgingly tender-hearted) journalists in the room.  And I'm not ashamed to admit I was one of them."

Did you, by chance, happen to exhale a sigh like I did at her soft-hearted closing words??  What a lovely article - I wish there were more like it in our daily media! 
[read the whole article by Cathleen Falsani, from the Orange County Register, here]

Picture Books about St. Francis of Assisi: