{"id":186303,"date":"2025-06-22T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/?p=186303"},"modified":"2025-06-22T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T03:07:09","slug":"st-joseph-cafasso-and-mother-seton-teach-us-how-to-love-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/es\/st-joseph-cafasso-and-mother-seton-teach-us-how-to-love-god\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Joseph Cafasso and Mother Seton Teach Us How to Love God"},"content":{"rendered":"

I once heard it said that we should approach our relationship with God as we would a romantic relationship. While that might sound a bit odd at first, the point is that the things we do when we fall in love are things we should do to deepen our relationship with God. We really are meant to \u201cfall in love\u201d with our Creator.<\/p>\n

When we fall in love with another human being, we want to spend as much time with our beloved as possible, getting to know and love their friends and family, and doing what they value and enjoy.<\/p>\n

When my husband Dan and I were dating in high school, I was eager to meet his mom and dad. I wanted to know and love the people he loved. Although I didn\u2019t have much interest in sports, I started rooting for his favorite teams and learned to play tennis.<\/p>\n

But who are the people God especially loves? Who were the people Jesus sought out to heal, love, serve, and forgive while he was here on earth? The poor and the marginalized. The outsiders. People, I must admit, who aren\u2019t always at the top of my list to spend time with.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you love me?\u201d Jesus asked Peter. When Peter said yes, Jesus asked him to \u201cfeed my sheep\u201d (John 21:17). He asked Peter to serve the people He loved.<\/p>\n

When we struggle to love God\u2019s people, we should look for inspiration to the saints who dedicated their lives to serving \u201cthe least\u201d among us.<\/p>\n

St. Joseph Cafasso, whose feast day we celebrate June 23, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, are two saints who devoted their lives to loving God\u2019s people. Though their life paths and circumstances were markedly different, they each embraced lives of selfless service to the poor and marginalized.<\/p>\n

St. Joseph Cafasso was born in 1811 in Castelnuovo d’Asti, Italy. From birth his spine was disfigured, which caused his body to be undersized and twisted. However, his condition didn\u2019t slow his pursuit of excellence\u2014first in his studies, where he was a star student, especially in theology, and then in his priesthood, where he was a gifted preacher and a dedicated servant of the poor.<\/p>\n

The prisons of Joseph\u2019s time were infamously overcrowded, with horrific conditions and abusive treatment of inmates. In these miserable circumstances Joseph saw a challenge. He recognized the dignity of even the most violent and wretched prisoners and devoted himself to visiting them and giving them reasons to hope. He accompanied more than 60 condemned inmates to their deaths\u2014men he called his \u201changed saints.\u201d To this day, Joseph is known as the \u201cpriest of the gallows\u201d and the patron saint of prisoners and those who are condemned to death.<\/p>\n

Joseph was also a mentor and close friend to St. John Bosco. Their friendship was built on mutual respect and a shared vision of serving the poor, especially young boys in need. Joseph\u2019s influence on Bosco was profound; he guided him in his priestly formation and supported his early efforts in founding the Salesians.<\/p>\n

Like St. Joseph Cafasso, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was deeply moved by the plight of the poor and needy of her society, especially young girls from struggling families with few opportunities to better themselves. In 1809, she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph\u2019s, the first congregation of women religious established in the United States, dedicated to serving the poor and sick. She also founded the first free Catholic school for girls run by religious sisters in the nation, which influenced the parochial school system in America.<\/p>\n

The remarkable charitable works of St. Joseph Cafasso and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton were built upon deep faith and personal resilience in the face of great trials and hardship. Together, they offer us inspiring examples of how absolute trust in God\u2019s will can lead to holiness in service to God and humanity. Through the witness of their lives, St. Joseph Cafasso and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton show us how to love God by loving the people He loves.<\/p>\n

DANIELLE BEAN<\/strong> es escritora y popular conferenciante sobre la vida familiar cat\u00f3lica, la paternidad, el matrimonio y la espiritualidad de la maternidad. Fue editora y redactora jefe de Catholic Digest, y es autora de muchos libros para mujeres, entre ellos <\/em>Momnipotente<\/a>, You\u2019re Worth It!<\/a>\u00a0y <\/em>T\u00fa eres suficiente<\/a>. Tambi\u00e9n es creadora y presentadora del podcast Girlfriends. M\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n en <\/em>DanielleBean.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Image: Wikicommons<\/em><\/p>\n

To view all of our Seton Reflections, click aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through their service to the poor and suffering, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Joseph Cafasso show us that falling in love with God means loving the people He loves most.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":186304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1187],"tags":[3666,3740,4395],"class_list":["post-186303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seton-reflections","tag-mother-seton","tag-st-elizabeth-ann-seton","tag-st-joseph-cafasso"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Joseph Cafasso and Mother Seton Teach Us How to Love God - Seton Shrine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the little things we find, every day, a multitude of ways to love.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/es\/st-joseph-cafasso-and-mother-seton-teach-us-how-to-love-god\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"St. Joseph Cafasso and Mother Seton Teach Us How to Love God - 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