“It’s Saint Ray’s day, and I am PUMPED!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am to share with you one of my favorite saints. That’s right. Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Raymond Peñafort.
Probably many of you are saying, “Saint Who?” Yeah, I know.
I first heard about St. Raymond in January of 2004 while reading myMagnificat in my weekly adoration holy hour. I share it with you here. Because, it’s a little long, I typed up the article in a separate document. Please click here to read his amazing story. (This link is a Word doc. If for some reason it doesn’t pop up after you click “open” , you already have Word up on your computer. Click on the W (which is probably blinking) on the toolbar & you’ll be able to read it. This appears to be a new “feature” of Word. )
I remember being blown away by what I read, and something happened inside me. All I can say, is that a childlike faith let loose in me. The miracles he witnessed and performed were truly amazing, and I just immediately believed them.
When I tell people his story, there’s a rather immediate disbelief. I see it in their faces, “You really believe that he windsurfed across the Mediterranean on his cloak? You must be nuts.” True, it’s pretty unbelievable, but I just remember thinking, “These are too crazy for me not to believe. What have I got to lose?”
It’s kind of funny because in a court of law or in a newspaper article, we rely on the witness of others, but with apparent outrageous, miraculous occurrences, suspicion and doubt rule. Not for me. Not that day.
I guess the juxtaposition of his big brain, his logical mind, his scholarly position in the church, his holiness, and his no-nonsense approach to dealing with the powerful attracted me. This little known saint from the 13th century was referred to as “…such miracles of genius and erudition as Albert the Great, Raymond de Peñafort, Thomas Aquinas, in whom especially, a follower of Dominic, God ‘deigned to enlighten his Church’,” in Pope Benedict XV’s encyclical “On Dominic” published on June 29, 1921. A Pope put him in company with Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas? How come I’ve never heard of him?
The more I learn of him and the more I pray to him and he intercedes for me, the more I just love him. One time I was talking with my daughter about heaven. With wide eyes, I started to talk about all the saints I would meet when I get there. Then I remembered that I’d meet St. Ray. I giggled with glee. My daughter just shook her head and grinned, “You’re so weird, Mom.” (Ed. Whew!! I’m NOT the only one!!! 🙂 )
Since that nightin the adoration chapel, I have called on “My man Ray”, my code name for St. Raymond. I call him, to help me out in all kinds of situations. Some people call on St. Anthony to help them find things, but not me. It’s my man Ray.
It started first with parking spaces and helping me when I got lost. Then it moved up to finding missing items. See, I figure that Ray’s not as busy as St. Anthony, so he’s just way more available to help! Ha! But seriously, my daughter lost her high school ring for several days. Unable to find it, she searched the van once again. It literally fell from the ceiling of the van. My dad lost his wedding ring. My parents looked “everywhere”. Several days later they found it in a drawer where they looked about 5 times. My nephew couldn’t find his keys. He and my niece tore apart the apartment looking for them – nowhere. Finally, one of them picked up a pillow on the couch that had been turned upside down, and the keys sat there quietly staring back at them. A friend of mine lost a journal that was very personal, and he fretted over it. I told him not to worry; he’d find it. I prayed to St. Ray and got a call from my friend the next week that it had been found. He, of course, credited St. Anthony, but I knew it was my new secret weapon! Story after story like this inspires in me complete confidence in his intercession in everything.
The last sentence of the article in Magnificat says, “He had dedicated half of his life to the Dominican ideal, manifesting itself in his devotion to Mary, a love of learning, the desire for holiness and the salvation of souls.” Like him, I have a devotion to Mary, a love of learning, and the desire for holiness. Maybe that’s what attracted me. Only God knows. All I can say is that I am grateful to know my older brother in Christ, and I pray that he will continue to intercede in my life. I pray he will do the same for you.
Saint Raymond Peñafort, Pray for us!. –Anne”
Love,
Matthew
Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” (St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England), "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom