Family Faith Reflections from Chris

This week’s saint is one of my favorites: Blessed Margaret of Castello. Her life was hard from the very beginning.

She was born blind and with several handicaps that made it hard for her to walk. Her back curved sideways (which also prevented her from growing very much) and she also had trouble moving one side of her face, so she could only smile and talk with half of her mouth. Margaret’s family grew tired of caring for her, so they took her to a church, said a prayer, and left her there, never returning to her again.
 
She was homeless and alone for her entire childhood. Although it was a hard life, she enjoyed meeting people on the street and striking up conversations with whomever walked by. The people in Castello knew her as much for her friendly chattiness as for her deformities. They also knew her for her sense of humor. One of her favorite things to do was to tell jokes to people and to make them laugh — especially other children.
 
Eventually, Margaret was taken in by a convent and she became a Dominican sister. Because she understood how hard life could be for children who were poor, she asked permission to open a small school to offer them an education. Her gentleness and joy made her a favorite teacher to the poor children of Castello.
 
When Margaret died, two miracles occurred. The first was that the deformities of her body vanished; her spine straightened, her short leg grew longer, and for the first time in her life she had a full smile on her face. The second miracle was perhaps even greater. During her funeral, a little girl was also healed of her disabilities!
 
Margaret can be a good example for us. Although she experienced tremendous suffering, she never lost her sense of joy. Joy is the comfort of knowing that the
struggles of this life are leading us to the glory of a heavenly life. We, too, are facing many challenges right now. Let us pray to Blessed Margaret — and to the Holy Spirit! — for help finding, holding on to, and sharing the joy of our faith with others.