👑Born into the royal family of Sweden, St. Bridget was a wife, a mother of eight children, and, after the death of her husband, the foundress of the Order of the Most Holy Savior. Her life is a testament that holiness can be achieved in all states of life. After a pilgrimage to Compostela, her husband entered monastic life, and Bridget dedicated herself entirely to a life of penance and prayer, being graced with numerous mystical revelations about the Passion of Christ and the life of the Church. One of her famous reflections warns about self-love: "The man who loves himself with a disordered love is like one who builds his house on the sand; when the flood of temptations comes, it will fall."
🙏Introit (Ps 118:75, 120 | ibid., 1)
I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are equity, and in thy truth thou hast humbled me. Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear: for I am afraid of thy judgments. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
📜Another Epistle for a Widow (I Tim 5:3-10)
Dearly beloved: Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or grandchildren, let her learn first to govern her own house, and to make a return of duty to her parents; for this is acceptable before God. But she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, let her trust in God, and continue in supplications and prayers night and day. For she that liveth in pleasures is dead while she is living. And this give in charge, that they may be blameless. But if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Let a widow be chosen of no less than threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband, having testimony for her good works, if she have brought up children, if she have received to harbor, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have ministered to them that suffer tribulation, if she have diligently followed every good work.
🕊️Gospel (Matt 13:44-52)
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hideth, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have ye understood all these things?" They say to him: "Yes." He said unto them: "Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old."
🤔Reflections
💎The Gospel presents the Kingdom of Heaven as a treasure and a pearl of inestimable value, for which a man sells all he possesses. St. Bridget embodied this parable in her life, for after a noble life and widowhood, she renounced the splendors of her royal status to "buy" this field, dedicating her fortune and her life to founding a religious order and serving God. The joy of one who finds the treasure is the same that compels the soul to detach itself from all that is earthly to possess the one thing necessary. "He who has perfectly understood the sweetness of the heavenly life, gladly gives up all that delighted him on earth. And in order to do this, it is necessary to sell all and buy the field: to despise all carnal desires and renounce earthly pleasures for the sake of heavenly discipline." (St. Gregory the Great, Homily 11 on the Gospels).
❤️🩹The Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy describes the ideal of the Christian widow, a model perfectly realized by St. Bridget. She not only fulfilled the duty of raising her children in the faith but, once free from marital bonds, she dedicated herself entirely to "supplications and prayers," day and night. Her life became an example of "good works," exercising spiritual hospitality through her writings and counsel to popes and kings, and assisting the afflicted with her charity and intercession. "Paul requires not only that she be a widow, but that she be desolate, that is, without human support, so that, free from all cares, she may devote herself entirely to the service of God, placing all her hope in Him." (St. John Chrysostom, Homily 14 on the First Epistle to Timothy).
🏛️The life of St. Bridget, passing through the states of wife, mother, and consecrated widow, illustrates the perennial doctrine of the Church on the universal call to holiness. The Roman Catechism teaches that each state of life possesses the necessary means to achieve perfection, and that divine grace operates in diverse ways in each one. The saint demonstrates that family responsibilities, when lived in a Christian manner, are a path to God, and widowhood can become an opportunity for an even more radical dedication to the "hidden treasure" of the Gospel. Her works of charity and penance, described in the Epistle as the seal of a true widow, are the expression of faith working through love, a fundamental principle of justification, as taught by the Council of Trent.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.
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