Feast of Saint Bertin the Great

Good morning. Each and every one of us is broken and in need of healing. In today’s Gospel we read about Jesus healing Simon’s mother-in-law and of others He healed. The power of His love healed. For love heals. Like Simon’s mother-in-law Jesus loves us as well, and we too are in need of healing. His love can likewise heal us. We read throughout the Gospels of Jesus healing people. He healed people of all walks of life, and what they all had in common was the need to be loved, to be loved unconditionally. Love heals. Love can heal our bodies and it can heal our spirits. Love can help us overcome the hurt we have inflicted upon ourselves and inflicted by others. Just as Jesus gave of Himself to heal the lives of others, we too are each called to give of ourselves. In fact, it is only in the giving of ourselves that we can find our self and heal our own brokenness. It is in giving of ourselves to others we can heal. For love heals. 

Jesus’ total self-giving love heals and makes us whole and we are each called to this same love. In marriage we are called to this self-giving love in a particular way. Blessed Pope John Paul II reminds us that we “cannot live without love.” In a three act play he wrote,The Jewelers Shop , he notes that without each other in marriage our lives are senseless, but that with God’s Grace the love we can offer to one another in marriage has the power to heal time and time again, to change each other and provide for happiness beyond our imagining. The giving of ourselves unconditionally to one another in marriage is essential to finding true joy and happiness in this life. As the life of Saint Bertin, whose life we celebrate today, and all the saints reveal love is essential to over-coming our brokenness. For love heals. Make a great day! 

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and work of Saint Bertin.