-- 2 Chronicles 7:14 –-

[Weedy]

-- 2 Chronicles 7:14 –-

And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall
make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for
their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sins and will heal their land. [2 Chr. 7:14] DRV
============================
True repentance is more than talk--it is changed behavior. Humble
ourselves by admitting our sins; pray to God, asking for forgiveness;
seek God continually; and turn from sinful behavior. Whether we sin
individually, as a group, or as a nation, following these steps will
lead to forgiveness. God will answer our earnest prayers.

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September 11th – Bl. Louis of Thuringia
(13th Century)

Some writers of the lives of women saints have assumed that their
husbands were always among their greatest crosses. This suggests a
rather dim view of God’s wisdom in creating male and female, and of
the cooperative nature of the state of marriage that He instituted. At
all events, we have a fine historical example of a saint’s husband who
was himself a saint. Blessed Louis of Thuringia was the mate of one of
the greatest of lay women saints, Elizabeth of Hungary.

Louis (Ludwig) was born in 1200, the eldest son of Count Herman I of
Thuringia. As was customary among rulers, great or small, in those
days, Herman arranged a political betrothal between Louis (aged 11)
and Elizabeth, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (aged 4), without
in any way consulting the little fiancé and fiancée. The two were
brought up together at court and their marriage was ratified in 1221,
when both were of age. Despite the fact that neither had been asked
about the match, the union proved to be ideal. Elizabeth bore Ludwig
one son and two daughters. Having succeeded his father the year of
their marriage, he proved to be an excellent ruler, ever careful to
vindicate the rights of his subjects and to cooperate with the Emperor
in upholding the common good of the Germanic peoples. Meanwhile,
seeing that his wife was engaged in promoting good works at home, he
approved her piety and her charity.

Elizabeth’s charities were anything but half-hearted, and sometimes
they surprised even her husband. One day when he came home he found
that she had put a poor leper in their bed. Naturally, Count Louis was
a bit startled and uncomfortable. But he quickly countered any
impatience by reminding himself that Christ lay there in the person of
the sick man. Then he hit on a resourceful solution: he built a
hospice for lepers elsewhere on the estate where his castle, the
Wartburg, was located. On other occasions, too, he took his wife’s
zeal with good humor. A devotee of Franciscan poverty, St. Elizabeth
once told him that she thought that they could both serve God better
if they gave up their fine castle and domain, and contented themselves
with land enough for one plow to cultivate it, and with no more
livestock than a couple hundred sheep. Louis laughed. With great
common sense, he replied, “If we had that much land and that many
sheep, we would hardly be poor. Some people would say we were still
too well off.” Nevertheless, when one of his treasurers complained
that the Countess was giving away too much of their property to the
needed, Louis answered, “Let her do good and give to God whatever she
will, as long as she leaves me Wartburg and Neuenburg” (his two
properties).

Even though they had not chosen each other, Elizabeth and Louis had
become deeply in love. In 1226 the Count had to spend the whole winter
away from home. When he returned, his wife “kissed him with her heart
and mouth a thousand times and more.” In 1227 he volunteered to
accompany Emperor Frederick II to the Holy Land on a crusade.
Apparently Elizabeth learned of this only when she discovered the
woolen crusader cross in his purse. Their parting was emotional and
ominous. Louis had got no farther than Otranto, Italy, when he was
stricken with a mortal fever. After he received the last rites, it
seemed to him that his room was filled with white doves. “I must fly
away with these white doves,” he said, and so he did. When Elizabeth,
still only 20 years old, learned of his death, she almost lost her
reason. “The world,” she said, “is dead to me and all that was
pleasant in it.”

She would live four years more, ever increasing in holiness. But one
of the principal factors in making a saint out of Elizabeth of Hungary
had been the holiness of her husband. We see in this couple an image
of how Adam and Eve would have been had they not disobeyed God in the
garden: mutual saint-makers.
–Father Robert F. McNamara


Saint Quote:
Always bear in mind this determination to die rather to fail to reach
the end of the way, if God ever causes you to suffer from thirst as He
guides you this life, it is because He will give you drink in plenty
in the next life, without any fear of it ever failing you.
--St. Teresa of Avila

Bible Quote:
Wise words are beyond fools’ reach,
in the assembly they do not open their mouth;
8 As they calculate how to do evil,
people brand them troublemakers.
9 The scheme of a fool gains no acceptance,
the scoffer is an abomination to the community. PROVERBS 24:7-9

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Prayer
"Lord Jesus, I profess and believe that you are the Christ, the Son of
the living God. You are my Lord and my Savior who has set me free from
sin and deception. Make my faith strong like the Apostles Peter and
Paul and give me boldness to speak of you to others that they may come
to know you as Lord and Savior."