We are back to hearing from the letters of St Paul in our daily mass reading. St Paul knew that the message of Christ was for all, not just a select group. But, according to Paul, unless we allow the spirit to work in our lives, unless we allow ourselves to grow in our faith, then we will not be open to the message Christ has for us. The Holy Spirit helps reveal the mysteries. The Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives to reveal the mysteries of God and to bring us deeper understanding of the message of Christ’s Good News.
The Holy Spirit can lead us to different things in our lives. When I was in Indianapolis last week, two different friends told me about statues of St Fiacre that they had in their gardens. One of those statues I mistook for St Francis of Assisi. St Fiacre was an Irish monk who lived in the 7th century. Fiacre traveled to continental Europe in order to be a missionary to the pagans there. He settled among the Franks near the town of Meaux, not far from Paris, where he told the local bishop that he sought silence and solitude. Fiacre build a monastery where he could live where he tended a garden to sustain himself. He became adept at using herbs to heal people, which drew many of the faithful to come to his monastery. He has been known as the patron saint of gardeners since the medieval period. A trivia note as well - St Fiacre became the patron saint of Parisian taxicab drivers as well. We might wonder how that came to be - there does not seem to be a logical connection between gardeners and taxicab drivers, does there? It began at the Hotel de Saint Fiacre in Paris, which rented carriages back in the 17th century. People began referring to these carriages as “Fiacre cabs”, and then simply “fiacres”. Thus their drivers took on St. Fiacre as their patron and protector.
May we pray for wisdom and understanding. May we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our faith. And may we pray to St Fiacre for our farmers and gardeners as our summer comes to an end.
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