Friday, November 17, 2023
Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
David’s 74th birthday!
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Living in the land of Elizabeth
On the day the Son of Man is revealed, someone who is on the housetop must not go down to the field to get his belongings, and likewise one who is in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.
My name is Bartholomew. Years ago my wife fell in the street under the wooden wheels of a farmer’s cart. Her legs were broken, but she was rescued by a noblewoman named Elizabeth, who cared for her in her hospital while I worked grinding corn, wheat and salt in our mill along the River Floss.
Elizabeth became our friend through this awful accident, and when her husband died we helped take care of her children sometimes. My wife’s legs never completely healed, however, and so both our families, however far apart in social standing, helped each other for many years.
The world seemed so small sometimes. Sometimes I walked through our flat country of Pest into the hills of Buda. Deer ran through the woods. Leaves rustled in the wind in trees above me. The branches blew, and birds scrambled together through the forest. It was so beautiful.
Some search busily among his works but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair. But if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its Lord?
Elizabeth helped my wife and I see how the world’s majesty derived from the truth, goodness and beauty of its Creator. She gave her fortune away to others over time, and she told us of visions of Jesus in the people she served. She talked with Jesus, and he called out to her. Elizabeth knew what a friend she had in Jesus.
On that night, when the Son of Man is revealed, there will be two people in one bed, and one will be taken but the other left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.
Elizabeth’s children were baptized when they were born, and while her husband still lived. Our son and daughter played with them. They played math games with sticks and stones and explored their world together when they could. After Mass they poured water over each other’s heads, while they folded their hands and made the sign of the cross together. They were very religious while they played on Sundays.
So on another Sunday in November our family, accompanied by Elizabeth, approached the priest, and he baptized all four of us. I did not have a vision of Jesus, but Elizabeth’s delight filled all our hearts. She prepared a fine feast for us of turkey and ham, potatoes and green beans, and a pie made from pecans and cream. The world, so full of good things, wrapped its loving arms around us. And God was in the world.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament declares his handiwork. Through all the earth their voice resounds and to the ends of the world, their message.
When Elizabeth died only a few years after St. Francis, we lived on. How could this be? She had been such a blessing to so many who lived in Budapest. Our children joined us and hundreds of other families who had been touched by Elizabeth for the viewing of her body and her funeral.
We knew that Elizabeth was a saint, just as Francis was a saint, and a few years later she joined him. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who spoke with Jesus while she lived, reached down to us and taught us, too, to pray as she did, just talking to Jesus instead of herself, hour after hour, day after day.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.
(Wisdom 13, Psalm 19, Luke 21, Luke 17)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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