The Light to Know...

Lucy's cracking me up lately! What she's lacking in hair, she's more than making up for in personality!

Last night I was channel surfing and decided to watch a special on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton on EWTN. I did give up Facebook for Lent and I am praying more, but I still like to lounge on the couch at night and decompress! I figured a little religious programming would be better for my soul than the alternatives! Plus, I had a glass of wine which can make everything seem more interesting...ha!

I actually love this saint, so bonus! When I lived in the Washington D.C. area, I was a teacher at Elizabeth Seton High School. It was the best job that I've ever had and I loved going to work everyday. And, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's old stomping grounds are in Emmitsburg, MD which  is only about an hours drive from here. The Basilica, museum, historical buildings, cemetery, and grounds are sacred and beautiful.

I've been there several times, and each time I love knowing that I'm walking in the very footsteps of Mother Seton! I don't think I'll ever make it to the Holy Land, so this has special meaning for me :). It is definitely a refreshing experience of renewal.

Anyway, the EWTN program was wonderful. They had an actress play Mother Seton so we could see her speaking the words that she left us in her journals. She was widowed at very young age and left to support five young children (yikes!). She went on to found an order of sisters and to open schools. Her life touched countless others and she continues to help countless people from heaven.

When I taught at the high school named for her, we said a prayer to her every morning over the loud speaker. I can still recite it by heart:

Elizabeth Seton High School, Maryland

 Lord God, you blessed Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton with gifts of grace as wife and mother, educator and foundress, so that she might spend her life in service to your people. Through her example and prayers may we learn to express our love for you in love for others. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

My favorite prayer was the one that was on the entrance of the school. A picture of the school is above, but you can't see the prayer. It was simply this, 

"God grant us the Light to Know and Grace to Do"

This is probably my favorite prayer for me and everyone else I know! What could possibly be better than having the light to KNOW what God wants us to do (it can be so hard to hear God's voice in our loud, chaotic lives!), and then having the grace to actually DO it! So often, I (and others, I'm sure!) know what God wants of us, but we just don't do it (because we are think we are too tired, too weak, too poor, name your excuse here!)!

So, through the intercession of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, may we all have LIGHT and GRACE today :).