July 24--St. Kinga (Cunegunda), Holy Woman

Grzegorz Czarnic, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Can a woman both be married and a virgin and be dedicated to loving both husband and God? Yes! We have two excellent examples of that unique calling: Our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Kinga. St. Kinga’s story is one of devotion to God through her role as Queen of Poland. Born in Hungary in 1224 to the King of Hungary, St. Kinga had many saintly relatives. St. John Paul II, in his canonization homily said, when “she was to marry Prince Boleslaus, she convinced him to live a life of virginity for the glory of God, and after a waiting-period of two years the spouses made a vow of perpetual chastity….

“This way of life, perhaps difficult to understand nowadays, yet deeply rooted in the tradition of the early Church, gave Saint Kinga that inner freedom which enabled her to be concerned first of all with the things of the Lord and to lead a profound religious life. Today let us reconsider this great testimony. Saint Kinga teaches us that both marriage and virginity lived in union with Christ can become a path to holiness. Today Saint Kinga rises to safeguard these values. She reminds us that the value of marriage, this indissoluble union of love between two persons, cannot be brought into question under any circumstances. Whatever difficulties may arise, one may not abandon the defence of this primordial love which has united two persons and which is constantly blessed by God. Marriage is the way of holiness, even when it becomes the way of the Cross. …

“[S]he esteemed chastity and virginity, rightly seeing in this state an extraordinary gift whereby man experiences in a special way his own freedom.” We need both holy marriages to raise godly families and consecrated virgins dedicated completely to serving God.

July 24--St. Sharbel Maklūf, Priest

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The Catholic Church has 24 particular churches and six major rites of worship.  The largest particular church is the Latin Church.  There are 23 Eastern Catholic Churches united under the authority and leadership of the Pope.

Today’s saint is from the Maronite Catholic Church, which belongs to the West Syriac Rite.  St. Sharbel Maklūf was a priest, monk, and hermit who lived in Lebanon from 1828-1898.  He is known as the “Miracle Monk of Lebanon” due to the many miraculous healings and wonders attributed to him during his life and after, as well for his ability to unite Christians and Muslims.  He became a monk in 1853 and was ordained a priest for the Monastery of St. Maron.  He served the monastery for 19 years and then was granted permission to live as a hermit near the monastery.  He lived as a hermit for another 23 years in deep prayer with God and a life devoted to deprivation of material pleasures.

His wisdom comes through his life of holiness and his words:  “A man who prays lives out the mystery of existence, and a man who does not pray scarcely exists.”  “Success in life consists of standing without shame before God.”  “Persevere in prayer without ceasing… to understand and live according to his will, not to change it.”  “One does not have to look far to see evidence of Satan’s plan in our world today, as the family is further fragmented and divided in modern culture.”  “The family is the basis of the Lord’s plan; and all forces of evil are focusing all their evil on destroying the family because they know that by destroying the family, the foundations of the plan of God will be shaken.”  How prophetic for us, as we seek to strengthen the family against new “definitions.”

*By FOSS-the-world - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63027121