At Christmas, Pope Francis inaugurated a Jubilee Year dedicated to hope, choosing as his theme St. Paul\u2019s teaching that \u201chope does not disappoint.\u201d<\/p>\n
By that he did not mean that everything we wish for will come true or that our lives will be problem-free or pain-free. Hope means confidence in God\u2019s love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, a confidence that prompts us to respond daily to the call to holiness that each and all of us received in the Sacrament of Baptism, \u00a0including on those days marked by pain, suffering, and misunderstanding.<\/p>\n
Hope is a deep-seated trust that, come what may, in the grace of the Holy Spirit, \u00a0we can indeed follow Christ, build up his Church, serve the needs of others, and in the process, become those unique reflections of God\u2019s glory \u00a0that we were created to be.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Few people fit this description better than St. Elizabeth Ann Seton \u2013 a wife and mother, a widow seeking meaning and direction in her life, a convert to Catholicism, an educator, and last but not least, \u00a0the founder of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.<\/p>\n
She was a pilgrim of hope; she exemplified the hope that impels us to seek God\u2019s will and follow the path of holiness, wherever it might lead.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Our reading from the Book of Proverbs recalls \u00a0Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton\u2019s vocation as a wife and mother.<\/p>\n
Como sabemos, proced\u00eda de una prominente familia de Nueva York, fue bautizada como episcopaliana y se cas\u00f3 con William Seton, con quien tuvo cinco hijos. Viv\u00edan en una casa preciosa; ten\u00edan amigos maravillosos; William parec\u00eda prosperar en su negocio de importaci\u00f3n. Podr\u00eda haberse instalado c\u00f3modamente en una vida elegante aunque intrascendente.<\/p>\n
\u00a0But she was not content with that. Deeply aware of God\u2019s love for her, she, like her mother, devoted herself to the service of the poor. At the same time, she was developing her life of prayer.<\/p>\n
As her relationship with the Lord grew stronger and deeper, she began to grow restless, searching for something more. She would find what she was looking for \u00a0as her life was upended by William\u2019s bankruptcy followed by a worsening of his tuberculosis, which, in turn, \u00a0led to a trip to Leghorn, Italy in hope that his health would improve.<\/p>\n
As we know, William\u2019s health did not improve; he died in Italy. While in Italy, their hosts, the Filicchi family, \u00a0introduced Elizabeth to the Catholic faith. Perhaps we could say that even as she lost her dear husband, \u00a0she found the fullness of the faith that would guide her in the journey ahead.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Returning to New York, Elizabeth was received into the Catholic faith by Father Matthew O\u2019Brien and confirmed by Bishop John Carroll. Her conversion did not sit well with some of her family and friends, and certainly not with the parents of the school \u00a0that she had founded in New York upon her return.<\/p>\n
In God\u2019s providence, she met Father Louis Dubourg who headed the nation\u2019s first seminary, St. Mary\u2019s, in Baltimore.<\/p>\n
Invitada por \u00e9l, lleg\u00f3 a Baltimore, donde abri\u00f3 una escuela. Sin embargo, esa no iba a ser la \u00faltima etapa de su viaje. Segu\u00eda buscando mientras Dios tiraba de su manga.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Her pilgrimage of hope brought her at last to Emmitsburg. She came at the invitation of the Sulpicians, especially Father John DuBois who had just begun Mt. St. Mary\u2019s College . . .<\/p>\n
Joseph, pero tambi\u00e9n respondi\u00f3 a una llamada que resonaba en su coraz\u00f3n desde hac\u00eda tiempo: la de fundar las Hermanas de la Caridad de San Jos\u00e9. A su vez, eso dio lugar a enormes ministerios de educaci\u00f3n, asistencia sanitaria y caridad que siguen aportando esperanza y alegr\u00eda a innumerables personas y familias.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00bfQu\u00e9 aprendemos, pues, de Santa Isabel Ana Seton? \u00bfQu\u00e9 nos ense\u00f1a sobre c\u00f3mo responder a nuestra llamada a la santidad? \u00bfC\u00f3mo aprendemos de ella a hacer de nuestras vidas una peregrinaci\u00f3n de esperanza? Perm\u00edtanme sugerirles tres puntos para su consideraci\u00f3n:<\/p>\n
\u00a0First, we learn from her that holiness is not merely an abstract ideal. We find holiness in the rough and tumble of life, amid its twists and turns, \u00a0the expected and the unexpected, the delightful and the distressing.<\/p>\n
Holiness is pursued with the horizon of a state of life \u2013 in her case \u2013 both as wife and mother and also as a religious sister and founder. Her example should bring us hope and joy, for while none of us will likely replicate her amazing life, all of us can find God\u2019s will and the path to holiness in our state of life and in our present circumstances, not just in some ideal situation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Second, we learn from her that hope, patience, and holiness travel together. How many times Elizabeth Ann Seton\u2019s patience was tried along the way from a fashionable Wall Street address \u00a0to the remoteness of 19th<\/sup> siglo Emmitsburg.<\/p>\n How easily she could have lost hope amid the setbacks of her life; but that didn\u2019t happen because her hope in God was sturdy and resilient. She teaches us never to take holiness for granted, never to be presumptuous, but rather to seek holiness patiently, day by day, pursuing God\u2019s will even when God seems to be asking the impossible of us.<\/p>\n \u00a0En tercer lugar, aprendemos que la esperanza y la paciencia no producen santidad a menos que est\u00e9n animadas por el amor, por la caridad, por el servicio a los dem\u00e1s. En cada etapa de su camino de esperanza, Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton fue una mujer de caridad. Los tremendos ministerios de educaci\u00f3n, sanidad y caridad que inaugur\u00f3 comenzaron con su propio esp\u00edritu de caridad, un esp\u00edritu de caridad que ella insisti\u00f3 en que deb\u00eda caracterizar la vida interna de la comunidad religiosa que fund\u00f3.<\/p>\n Not all of us can found large ministries of charity but all of us can see Christ in the poor and the marginalized, all of us can strive to do everything with love and go out of our way for others. If holiness is participation in God\u2019s life and if God is love, then it follows that anyone striving for holiness must lead a life of charity.<\/p>\n \u00a0Este a\u00f1o se cumplir\u00e1n 50th<\/sup> anniversary of Mother Seton\u2019s canonization. Let us prepare for that great event by reflecting on her life and in God\u2019s grace let us absorb the lessons of her life, such that we too will be accounted pilgrims of hope on the road to holiness.<\/p>\n Santa Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, \u00a1ruega por nosotros!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \"Su peregrinaje de esperanza la llev\u00f3 por fin a Emmitsburg...\"<\/p>","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":196081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3920],"tags":[4421],"class_list":["post-196079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom","tag-fiftynews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n