Our Saint of the Day proves that the work of promoting peace ✌️ is anything but a calm and quiet endeavor.
July 4, 2024
Hello John,
The life of Elizabeth of Portugal is a testament to her unwavering faith, compassion, and dedication to fostering peace. From her early years, she exhibited qualities of self-discipline and spirituality, which shaped her remarkable journey as a peacemaker and devoted individual. Despite facing personal challenges, she remained resolute in her commitment to acts of charity and reconciliation.
Elizabeth's ability to transcend difficult circumstances and facilitate peace between individuals and kingdoms serves as an inspiring example of the enduring power of compassion and faith.
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Elizabeth is usually depicted in royal garb with a dove or an olive branch. At her birth in 1271, her father Pedro III, future king of Aragon, was reconciled with his father James, the reigning monarch. This proved to be a portent of things to come. Under the healthful influences surrounding her early years, she quickly learned self-discipline and acquired a taste for spirituality.
Thus fortunately prepared, Elizabeth was able to meet the challenge when at the age of 12, she was given in marriage to Denis, king of Portugal. She was able to establish for herself a pattern of life conducive to growth in God’s love, not merely through her exercises of piety, including daily Mass, but also through her exercise of charity, by which she was able to befriend and help pilgrims, strangers, the sick, the poor—in a word, all those whose need came to her notice. At the same time she remained devoted to her husband, whose infidelity to her was a scandal to the kingdom.
Denis, too, was the object of many of her peace endeavors. Elizabeth long sought peace for him with God, and was finally rewarded when he gave up his life of sin. She repeatedly sought and effected peace between the king and their rebellious son Alfonso, who thought that he was passed over to favor the king’s illegitimate children. She acted as peacemaker in the struggle between Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and his cousin James, who claimed the crown. And finally from Coimbra, where she had retired as a Franciscan tertiary to the monastery of the Poor Clares after the death of her husband, Elizabeth set out and was able to bring about a lasting peace between her son Alfonso, now king of Portugal, and his son-in-law, the king of Castile.
Reflection
The work of promoting peace is anything but a calm and quiet endeavor. It takes a clear mind, a steady spirit and a brave soul to intervene between people whose emotions are so aroused that they are ready to destroy one another. This is all the more true of a woman in the early 14th century. But Elizabeth had a deep and sincere love and sympathy for humankind, an almost total lack of concern for herself, and an abiding confidence in God. These were the tools of her success.
Discover this Franciscan classic!
Ilia Delio, OSF, shows how the Franciscan way can offer all Christians an intimate and wholehearted approach to prayer. Franciscan Prayer: Awakening to Oneness with God
Make this passage from Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians the centerpiece of your prayer time. Find a creative way to keep it with you through the day. “May the God of peace make you whole and holy, may you be kept safe in body, heart, and mind, and thus ready for the presence. God has called you and will not fail you” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The heart space is often opened by “right brain” activities such as music, art, dance, nature, fasting, poetry, games, and, of course, the art of relationship itself. Choose one of these activities and find a way to explore it more deeply over the next week. Find a way to be especially good to your body this week. It is a gift from God.
Independence Day is a time for patriotism and picnics, to be sure. A different way to think about this national holiday is to consider what our freedom actually opens up for us. Read between the lines of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and you might be surprised to find that love and fraternity are truly at the root of our great nation.
Pray
We are free. That’s an amazing thing to behold, and we wouldn’t have that freedom without it being made available to us by you, Lord. And more than being free to simply do what we want, we are free to love with abandon, to build your kingdom in the here and now. We’re free to share and amplify freedom where it is being stifled by oppression, racism, sexism, or classism. We’re free to be compassionate, and paradoxically, free to be servants. It’s what you want us to do. It’s what your Son taught us to do when he washed the feet of his followers. Today, we celebrate the beauty that is freedom. In God we truly do trust.
Act
One way to nurture your appreciation of freedom is to get involved in civic activities. Volunteer as a poll worker on Election Day, get involved with a community garden, or attend a local government or town council meeting to see how our freedoms are bolstered and protected.
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Daniel Imwalle. Learn more here!
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