Original Post: At this time last year I started the 2006 Saint for the Year Devotion along with someone that I found through the Internet. Over the course of the past year, I have had 475 individual requests for a special saint for the year. This is amazing! And starting today I will be taking names of anyone that wants to take part in this devotion for the year 2007.
What is the Saint for the Year Devotion? Here is my post on this from last year to clarify the matter. This is from the person that draws all of the saints. I don't draw the saints. I will merely pass on your name or screenname to her so that she will draw a saint for you. Also, I will pass on the name of any of your family or friends that would like to participate. This isn't superstition. St. Faustina did the same thing! Last year dozens of people received saints to be their special patron, and there were miraculous connections. It was truly amazing. We pray that this year the Holy Spirit will again work so that all participants receive a saint that they will be able to pray to for aid throughout the entire year:
Saint for the Year
I want to tell you about the practice of picking a saint at random to be your “holy protector” for the year. Actually, the saint is the one who chooses us though. The tradition of letting a saint “pick you,” is not a new one. St. Faustina wrote about it in her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul. The excerpt is below.
“There is a custom among us of drawing by lot, on New Year's Day, special Patrons for ourselves for the whole year. In the morning during meditation, there arose within me a secret desire that the Eucharistic Jesus be my special Patron for this year also, as in the past. But, hiding this desire from my Beloved, I spoke to Him about everything else but that. When we came to refectory for breakfast, we blessed ourselves and began drawing our patrons. When I approached the holy cards on which the names of the patrons were written, without hesitation I took one, but I didn't read the name immediately as I wanted to mortify myself for a few minutes. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my soul: ‘I am your patron. Read.’ I looked at once at the inscription and read, ‘Patron for the Year 1935 - the Most Blessed Eucharist.’ My heart leapt with joy, and I slipped quietly away from the sisters and went for a short visit before the Blessed Sacrament, where I poured out my heart. But Jesus sweetly admonished me that I should be at that moment together with the sisters. I went immediately in obedience to the rule.”Excerpt from Divine Mercy in My Soul, the Diary of St. Faustina"
I have a container full of names ... I will be glad to pick out the name for you and send you the name if you prefer. I am so excited by my saint(s) ... I already picked mine. Well, I should say that they picked me ... I have Saints Marcus and Marcellianus ... they are twin brothers who were sent to prison before their death. St. Sebastian visited them continually in prison and helped keep their faith alive. They are buried near St. Felix and are specifically honored in Spain.
OK now ... here are a couple of immediate ironies in regard to these saints ... I have a SPECIAL place in my heart for twins! As a child, I LOVED reading the story about St. Sebastian. I had a children's book of saints and I think I wore out the pages on St. Sebastian! Felix is my grandfather's name! Silvia, our exchange student, is from Spain! I am so excited to have these two saints to walk through 2006 with me! I'm looking forward as to where and how they will intercede for me.
I'm so excited about this coming year for this devotion. Please pass this message on through your blogs like you did last year and let all of the Catholic blogsphere have the chance to participate. I only ask that you give me some way to contact you when your saint is drawn. Usually within one to two days I can email you about your saint. So, please either make sure your email address and/or weblog link is in your profile, or please leave it below in the comment box when you ask to participate. You can remain anonymous. That is fine. Just please give me an email address and some initials or some way to identify the anonymous people apart. Last year I had nearly 30 anonymous participants, and it was hard to identify which anonymous received which saint. I will also post all results online using just first names or initials. They will be posted on a result's page, which I will create in a few days.
So, comment below and pass this message on throughout the entire Catholic Blogsphere!
Update: Results will be emailed if email address given and/or posted on the 2007 Saint for the Year Results Page.
