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Thursday, October 23, 2008

St. John of Capistrano

I tried to put on a picture of both St. John of Capistrano and the Iona Abbey with the Celtic Cross by the Chapel door, but could not. So today's curious saint will not have his picture posted. He was the son of a German knight who became a lawyer, married, and became governor of Perugia in 1412 at the age of 22! According to my "Living with Christ", he had a vision of St. Francis of Assisi while he was imprisoned during a civil war. He ended his marriage and joined the Friears in 1415 and was ordained in 1419; there is no mention of what happened to his wife, but he spent the rest of his life preaching missions throughout Europe. He died of the plague at the age of 70.

Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is always worth reflecting on and today's passage has his prayer that all may be "strengthened with the power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." That is a powerful prayer!

Trip to Iona continued:
We arrived at the House of Prayer in time for the 5:00 Communion service that Jean Lawson, RSCJ holds daily for all who wish to come as there is no resident priest on the Isle. Jean is a marvelous cook, makes her own bread, and has the gift of creating a spirit of family among those staying in the House of Prayer. She also conducts a lovely prayer service at 8:00 each morning and serves a hot breakfast afterwards to prepare us for our pilgrimage around the island.

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