One of the most profound truths of Christmas-time is this: the birth of Christ among us gives us the chance to “to live as God’s children.” St. John (in First John 3, 7-10) says, “The one who acts in holiness is holy indeed.” Jesus had said something very similar when He said that a tree can be known by its fruit. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. But it is important for us to realize that it is not the acts which make us holy. On the contrary, our good acts are a sign that God is working effectively through us. This is one of the greatest gifts of the Incarnation and the birth of God-with-us.
Within this Christmas season, we celebrate today the feastday of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was the first native-born American Saint and was canonized in 1975. She was a daughter, an Episcopalian, a wife, a mother, a widow, a convert to Catholicism, and eventually a nun. In her short span of 47 years (1774-1821), she went from riches to poverty. Her father was a physician and professor; her mother died when she was very young. Her grandfather was rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopalian Church on Staten Island.
Throughout her life, Elizabeth showed a deep concern for the poor and the sick. While on a trip to Italy to restore her husband’s health in 1803, her husband died, and her first months of widowhood were spent with a Catholic family there. She came to admire, and then share their belief in the True Presence in the Holy Eucharist. She returned to the United States and in 1805, Elizabeth was received into the Catholic Church. In 1807 she founded a school for girls in Baltimore. She began the first American Community of Sisters – “The Sisters of Charity.”
Mother Seton laid the foundation of the American parochial school system, trained teachers, prepared textbooks, wrote spiritual reflections, visited the sick and the poor, and established several orphanages. Her motto was “Live simply that others may simply live.”
For a bio/video message on today’s Saint: https://youtu.be/Zs1wMZ9AR64
