SAINT(S) OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ MARCH 24TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL AND SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, VIRGIN: FEAST DAY ~ MARCH 24TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Gabriel the Archangel (Patron of messengers, communications, diplomats, and postal workers) and Saint Catherine of Sweden, Virgin (Patroness against abortions and miscarriages). Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and these holy saints, we humbly pray for the grace of divine guidance, the strength to respond to God’s will, and protection for expectant mothers.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel and Saint Catherine of Sweden ~ Pray for us. 🙏🏽

SAINT GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL: “I am Gabriel, who stand before God.” (Luke 1, 19). Saint Gabriel, whose name means “God’s strength,” is mentioned four times in the Bible. The day before the great feast of the Annunciation, the Church celebrates the feast of the Archangel who brought to earth the glad tidings that Mary was chosen to be the Mother of the Incarnate God. Originally, according to the previous calendar (1962), today is the commemoration of St. Gabriel the Archangel. The feast of Saint Gabriel was included by Pope Benedict XV in the General Roman Calendar in 1921, for celebration on March 24th, the day before the feast of the Annunciation. However in 1969, after Vatican II, it was officially transferred to September 29th for celebration in conjunction with the feast of the other Archangels St. Michael and St. Raphael. On this eve of the feast of Annunciation, we pray for the intercession of St. Gabriel the Archangel.

This angelic Messenger appears several times in the history of God’s chosen people. He came to Daniel the prophet after he had a vision of the future Persian and Greek empires, to explain the vision to him, as Daniel narrates in the eighth chapter of his book. So great was the Archangel’s majesty that the prophet fell on his face trembling. The Angel of the Incarnation again appeared to the prophet to answer his prayer at the end of the exile, and advise him of the exact date of the future Redemption by the long-awaited Messiah. When the fullness of time had come, Archangel Gabriel was sent several times as the harbinger of the Incarnation of the Most High God. First, to the Temple of Jerusalem, while Zachary stood at the altar of incense, to tell him that his wife Elizabeth would bring forth a son to be called John, who would prepare the way of the Lord. (Luke 1:17) Six months later the great Archangel again appeared, bearing the greatest message God ever sent to earth. Standing before the Blessed Virgin Mary, this great Archangel of God trembled with reverence as he offered Her the ineffable honor of becoming Mother of the Eternal Word. Upon Her consent, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was he, we can readily believe, who also fortified Saint Joseph for his mission as virginal father of the Saviour.

Archangel Gabriel rightly bears the beautiful name, the strength of God, manifesting in every apparition the power and glory of the Eternal. According to some of the Fathers of the Church, it was Saint Gabriel, Angel of the Incarnation, who invited the shepherds of Bethlehem to come to the Crib to adore the newborn God. He was with Jesus in His Agony, in the garden of Gethsemane, no less ready to be the strength of God in the Garden than at Nazareth and Bethlehem. Throughout Christian tradition he is the Angel of the Incarnation, the Angel of consolation, the Angel of mercy. He’s the Patron Saint of ambassadors; broadcasting; childbirth; clergy; communications; diplomats; messengers; philatelists; postal workers; public relations; radio workers; secular clergy; stamp collectors; telecommunications, churches and places.

PRAYER: Archangel Gabriel, the angel of revelation, I thank God for making you a powerful messenger to deliver divine messages. Please help me hear what God has to say to me, so I can follow his guidance and fulfill his purposes in my life. Amen🙏

SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, VIRGIN: St. Catherine of Sweden (1331-1381) was the fourth of eight children born to St. Bridget of Sweden and her husband, Ulfo, Gudmarsson, Prince of Nericia, Sweden. As a child, at the age of seven she was sent by her parents to the abbess of the convent of Riseberg to be educated and soon showed, like her mother, a desire for a life of self-mortification and devotion to spiritual things. Later when she had reached the age of thirteen, her father gave her in marriage to Eggart von Kürnen, a young German nobleman of great virtue. St. Catherine was able to persuade her husband, a virtuous young man, to live together in a mutual vow of perpetual chastity; thereby forgoing their lawful marital rights for the love of God. Both lived in a state of virginity and devoted themselves to the exercise of Christian perfection and active charity. They encouraged each other to mortification, prayer, and works of charity. They lived happily together in complete devotion to God.

After the death of her father, and in spite of her deep love for her husband and with her husband’s consent, St. Catherine accompanied her mother, St. Bridget on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1349, out of devotion to the Passion of Christ and to the relics of the Roman Martyrs. While there, St. Catherine’s husband died in Sweden. She continued to be a companion to her mother and rejected further offers of marriage. Her mother worked to establish a new religious order, called the Order of the Holy Savior, or the Bridgettines. In 1372 St. Catherine and her brother, Birger, accompanied their mother, Bridget on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; after their return to Rome St. Catherine was with her mother in the latter’s last illness and death. On July 23, 1373, St. Bridget died at Rome and St. Catherine took her mother’s body back to Sweden for burial while continuing the work of establishing the Bridgettines. In 1375, St. Catherine returned to Rome to advocate for her mother’s canonization and obtain a new papal confirmation of the Brigittines or Order of St. Savior. She secured another confirmation both from Pope Gregory XI (1377) and from Pope Urban VI (1379), but was unable to gain at the time the canonization of her mother, as the confusion caused by the Schism delayed the process. While in Rome she became great friends with St. Catherine of Siena. When this sorrowful division appeared she showed herself, like St. Catherine of Siena, a steadfast adherent of the party of the Roman Pope, Urban VI, in whose favor she testified before a judicial commission. St. Catherine stayed five years in Italy and then eventually returned home, bearing a special letter of commendation from the pope. St. Catherine of Sweden became abbess of the newly founded Bridgettines, living the rest of her days as a model of prayer and penance. Not long after her arrival in Sweden,St. Catherine took ill and died as the Abbess of Vadzstena, Sweden, on March 24, 1381. During the last twenty-five years of her life, St. Catherine lived in mortification and penance. Each day she purified her soul from sin by the Sacrament of Penance. In 1484 Innocent VIII gave permission for her veneration as a saint and she was canonized in 1484 by Pope Pius II. St. Catherine wrote a devotional work entitled “Consolation of the Soul” (Sielinna Troest), largely composed of citations from the Scriptures and from early religious books; no copy is known to exist. The Order of St. Savior or the Brigittines, founded by St. Catherine of Sweden, was approved by Pope Urban VI and affiliated to the Augustinians. This Order has for its purpose literary work, especially the translation of religious writings. Generally she is represented with a hind at her side, which is said to have come to her aid when unchaste youths sought to ensnare her. St. Catherine of Sweden is the Patron Saint of Europe; against abortions; for healing and protection from miscarriages.

PRAYER: Lord God, You showered heavenly gifts on St. Catherine the Virgin. Help us to imitate her virtues during our earthly life and enjoy eternal happiness with her in heaven. Amen🙏