As we enter a new year, many reflect on 2025. It's joys, it's sorrows; all culminating into how the last 365 days were for us. While it's important to look back, it's even more important to look forward. As such, we should look at the Patron Saint of new beginnings, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. The first American-born Saint, she had a path that only God could foresee. Born into an Episcopalian family in New York, she was married off to William Magee Seton. But not even 10 years into their marriage, her husband caught tuberculosis. While they moved to Italy with hopes of recovery, he passed away, leaving her a widow with five children. After his passing, she moved back to America. While she left her husband behind, she came home with a heart radically in love with Catholicism. While her conversion resulted in a loss of social status, financial security, and many family relationships; her love for Christ, the Holy Mother, and the Eucharist was stronger. From here, she would move to Baltimore to teach. After only one year in Maryland, she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s. Here, they ran Saint Joseph’s Academy and a free school for girls. While there was no way she could have known at the time, this educational model would go on to shape Catholic schools in America. Furthermore, her religious organization would go on to establish orphanages, hospitals, and social service centers worldwide. St. Seton had an incredibly difficult decision to make. She could have kept her life as it was, being scared of the unknown; but she trusted God to steer her life towards him. While trusting God may not always be the easiest thing to do, it's important to remember that God can do amazing things in your life. Let God direct 2026; He just needs your trust. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Pray for Us! https://missions.ewtn.com/dailysaint/st-elizabeth-ann-seton/#:~:text=The%20families%20of%20her%20husband's,caused%20her%20to%20lose%20students

Being in a season of Advent, we are called to enter into a time of waiting. In our fast-paced society, a lot of us are used to near-instant gratification. Barring lifelong goals and our hopeful reunion with God in Heaven, society has conditioned us to get whatever we desire as soon as we desire it. A perfect saint who truly illustrates what it means to wait is St. Monica. Mother of the famous St. Augustine, she fervently prayed and fasted for her son's conversion. Year after year, her son, filled with worldliness and vice, continued to reject Christ. Seeking guidance from a Bishop, the story goes that he tried to explain to her that it was pointless to try to convince him to turn to God, but to continue praying all the more. As such, St. Monica persisted. Finally, after seventeen years of prayer, he saw the errors of his ways and got baptized into the Catholic faith. Just a few weeks later, she passed away. In her wake, she left behind a grateful son who would also go on to become a great saint and a saintly example of patience we should all aspire to emulate. Saint Monica, Pray for Us! https://blog.catholicpsych.com/waiting-with-st-monica

As Catholics, we're called to follow Christ, not the spotlight. While it is perfectly natural to yearn for recognition, to be remembered by those around us, it is not our final calling. Our true calling is heaven-bound love for God! Around 1285, a man at a Cistercian monastery in Belgium died in obscurity. No large funeral, no procession, just a simple funeral followed by a simple tomb on the Abbey grounds. The man had a hard life, from a shipwreck to surviving exile from his land due to his role as Bishop of Hamar in Norway, he remained a kind a humble man to the end of his days. In the course of building maintenance within the monastery in 1335, his tomb was opened; a strong, pleasing odor emanated from his body. After some research, it was determined that it was the tomb of Thorfinn. Sensing the potential presence of a Saint, his tomb was left open, and miracles began occurring throughout the Abbey. While this story is inspiring, it's important to remember that he was just a man who sought Christ until the end of his days. We all ought to aspire to be like St. Thorfinn, not desiring anything but Christ, becoming Saints in the process. Saint Thorfinn, pray for us! https://americaneedsfatima.org/articles/saint-thorfinn-of-hamar

Looking through all the amazing posts people shared of praying the Rosary, a newly canonized saint comes to mind. Saint Bartolo Longo, who was officially declared a Saint by Pope Leo just 10 days ago, was a man who turned from grave sin to declare his love for the rosary. Living in southern Italy at the turn of the 20th century, Bartolo was born into a devoutly Catholic family. Due to a multitude of factors, he came to hate the Catholic church as his life progressed, going so far as to be "consecrated a satanic priest and promised his soul to a demon." While the pleas from his Catholic family did not work, they petitioned a local professor to talk with him. Not sugar-coating the state of mortal sin Bartolo was in, the professor accosted him, "Do you want to die in an insane asylum and be damned forever?" This encouragement, along with other concerned laypeople and religious who gave witness to him, helped him see the error in his ways and turn towards Christ. From here, he became a third-order Dominican, the driving force to build the Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Pompeii, and publish writings that would go on to inspire the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. With all of these works, Pope John Paul II went on to declare him an “Apostle of the Rosary.” Upon seeing this story, we must first acknowledge that, while being confrontational with others may not be easy, it has the power to lead people onto the right path. Additionally, we are all called to be apostles of the rosary in our own lives. Saint Bartolo Longo, Pray For Us! For more information about this great saint, feel free to visit the following site: https://dominicanfriars.org/former-satanist-priest-became-saint/

I have a twin brother. Much to the displeasure of our parents, we would do as all siblings do. We would poke and prod one another, wanting to get a rise out of one another. While immature, we craved one another's reaction. Society is the same way, wishing to see the flock of Christ riled up to the point of agitation when provoked, and then being the first one to point the finger. In a recent address by Pope Leo, he told the Jubilee for Legal Professionals, “Striving for justice, therefore, requires being able to love it as a reality that can only be achieved through constant attention, radical disinterest, and assiduous discernment." This is the antithesis to the plan that Satan and an apathetic society have for God's kingdom; they elicit a response. As we heard today in Church, "Man cannot serve God and mammon." We are not called to enact the "justice" of the world, but justice as put forth by Christ. It is radical and opposing to our human nature, and while righteous indignation is allowed, it's what we do with this anger that will define us. As Fr. Fleming said this week, we are all called to live courageously. As an action from this, consider saying an Our Father for those in places of power and justice throughout the world. If you're interested in reading more about the Pope's message, feel free to visit the link below: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/266689/forgiveness-is-fundamental-to-justice-pope-leo-xiv-tells-legal-professionals-at-jubilee-of-justice