St Matilda
Feast Day: March 14
Patron saint parents of large families, widows, and second wives
Forget pie day! This month, March 14 is dedicated to our saint of the month! St Matilda lived in the 800s and 900s, and is the patron saint of parents of large families, of widows and second wives (as she was one herself!).
Raised by her grandmother, an abbess, she spent her youth learning how to pray and do penance, and while she would have been content with religious life, she was married to Henry, who became king of Germany, making her queen. She had five children with him, and it was said that her generous giving to others became a point of contention between her and some of her children.
I think we can learn from her generous spirit, as parents or spiritual parents. Generosity is definitely needed, and sometimes a little hard to come by, especially when we have had a hard day or have already given of ourselves. But I tend to find that it is precisely when we are struggling to be generous that we need to dig a little deeper and find it in ourselves to give. Just something I know I need to work on, are any of you working on it, too? How do you find the strength to do it? Thinking about it, I believe you can’t go wrong with a good old “Come Holy Spirit”! I also found this prayer for generosity from St Ignatius that could be a good one to add to our prayer routine when we feel a little dryness in this area, whether it is our generosity towards God or towards Him through those we serve in our day-to-day:
Dear Lord teach me to be generous; teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will.
Amen.
Let me know if you have any prayers or practices that help you to grow in charity and generosity!
Perhaps a simple way we can celebrate her feast day and practice this generosity in ourselves, is to make a pie, and generously share it with others!
St Matilda, pray for us!
Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!
Mom Things Through Christ 