PRAYER BY SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON

Lord Jesus

Who was born for us in a stable,

lived for us a life of pain and sorrow,

and died for us upon a cross;

say for us in the hour of death, Father, forgive,

and to Your Mother, Behold your child.

Say to us, This day you shall be with Me in paradise.

Dear Savior, leave us not, forsake us not.

We thirst for You, Fountain of Living Water.

Our days pass quickly along, soon all will be consummated for us.

To Your hands we commend our spirits, now and forever.

Amen.

MEMORIAL OF SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON (1774-1821)

Trivia for the Day:

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native-born American to be canonized (officially recognized to be in Heaven, a saint with a capital “S”) by the Roman Catholic Church. She was beatified (a step when a saint is called “Blessed”) in 1963 and canonized (named a Saint) in 1975. In 1980, Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek Voyager/Orange is the New Black fame played Mother Seton in a made-for-television movie A Time for Miracles.

About Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a wife, mother who after being widowed, entered into to religious life. She established the first free Catholic school in the United States and was foundress of the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Scripture and this prayer:

This morning in search of my prayer, a Google search lead me to Catholic News Agency (catholicnewsagency.com) this beautiful prayer written by Mother Seton. It calls to mind the Christmas Season (“Lord Jesus, Who was born for us in a stable”–Luke 2:7) that we are still in by the way (January 6 is the 12th Day of Christmas, the feast of Ephiphany). And how, God in His Divine Weaving, chose to call Mother Seton home on this 10th day of Christmas, January 4, 1821 (Memorials of Saints usually are set on the day they died, and entered into eternal life.

Tonight during my weekly Holy Hour (for those not familar with Catholic devotions, this is the prayer practice of spending an hour in Jesus’ Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament), I ended up on the other side from where I usually sit close to our Nativity. While meditating on today’s prayer I looked from the stable to our Crucifix to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and felt an overwhelming joy at the immense love of God for us. So what a great “God-incidence” that I found this prayer that Mother Seton wrote to take us from the stable to the cross and how beautifully she used some of the last words of Christ to apply to each of us.

“Father, forgive” (Luke 23:34) as we are reminded that even when we are at our worst, Jesus is there to offer us mercy when we only ask for it.

“Behold your child ” as Jesus gave us all His Mother from the cross (John 19: 25-29) and if you read the Scripture, pay attention to what comes next: “After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.'” Jesus’ last action from the Cross was to give John (and us) His Mother to love and to pray for us.

“This day you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) as like the repentant thief we are offered the promise of Heaven by our Savior who never stops fighting for us to join Him in Heaven.

“Into Your hands, we commend our spirit” echoes the words of Jesus as he gives up His Spirit (Luke 23:46), completing His sacrifice so that we may have Salvation.

All this reflection on our last moments of life leads into something that has been on my writing radar of late.

Memento Mori, Being Mindful of Our Ultimate Goal

Memento Mori is Latin for “remember that you will die” which at first glance might sound like a gothic morbidity. Yet as we reflect on Scripture, we can cry out with St. Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O Death Where is Your Sting?” For a great song to remind us not to fear death, check out Matt Maher’s “Christ is Risen.” As long as we live each day to its fullest, to our fullest potential to be the person God created us to be and to humbly and contritely ask God’s forgiveness when we sin, we can be mindful of our ultimate goal–to be in Paradise with Christ our Savior.

So as I reflected today on what Memento Mori really is (not a morbid fascination with death) what crossed my mind as a writer was this writing prompt for my Season 3 alternate universe Once Upon a Time Re-Imagined fan fiction I wrote for our Writers Group on New Year’s Eve. Why? Because it elicited a light-hearted response on Facebook from a writer friend and sister in Christ:

Been in a writing rut so believe it or not this was inspired by today’s first reading from 1 John 2:18 about being in the last hour.

#MondayMotivation #Rumple #OUAT
Down to the last hour. Rumple had never felt this powerless before. And when the hourglass sands were spent Hades would be ready to make the transfer of Dark One powers to Papa and Rumple would forever be trapped in this Hades’ hell.
#amwriting

My friend Diane (a very talented artist and children’s author) jokingly responded: Well, being trapped forever in Hades’ hell is depressing. We need to find you more pleasant thoughts.

SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched Season 3 of Once Upon a Time

Without spoiling all of my Rumplestiltskin-centric fan fiction “Love As Strong As Death” I can say that it involves a redemption arc that got lost in the second half of the show’s third season. The reason Rumple gets “trapped in Hades’ hell” is he makes a heroic sacrifice to keep his son Baelfire/Neal from dying in the episode “Quiet Minds,” which is why this is Once Upon a Time Re-Imagined and he’ll find a way back to his beloved Belle in the Enchanted Forest with the added blessing of having his son alive.

So no, my writing is not all “rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers” to quote the character of Regina, but I hope both the fan fiction and my original work reflect my faith in a way that doesn’t get heavy-handed but offers hope, even when the characters may be in what seems hopeless situations. Likewise, I believe keeping to what Memento Mori truly is presents an opportunity for becoming mindful to focus on what God has for us in the here and now, praying to be who He created us to be and to stop worrying about things beyond our control.

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

In these last days of Christmas (even if you already took down the tree and all the decorations), pause to reflect on the immense love of Jesus Christ for each and every one of us from the Stable to the Cross.And as we hoepfully slow down to do so, we may look upon Jesus as a baby in the manger, we say a prayer that the right for every child to be born will be respected by all and that we all do our part to defend and protect children, especially those in vulnerable or abusive environments.