Mother Teresa and Secular Saints

After finishing the biography of Fr. Solanus Casey, I decided it was time to get out that copy of Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light that I had bought and added to my pile of books to be read.

The book, based on the "private writings of the `Saint of Calcutta,'" caused a stir a while back because it dealt with her dark night - a concept the secular media had a hard time understanding.

I am only a little way in, but I already find it stimulating and inspiring.

"With permission of my confessor, I made a vow to God - binding under Mortal Sin - to give God anything that He may ask of me, `Not to refuse him anything.'"

To be so dedicated, so committed, so trusting, so in love with God.

Humbling.

I have also be reading Secular Saints by Joan Cruz. It's a collection of short pieces on 250 canonized and beatified lay people - including a number of Secular Franciscans.

Last night I read about Blessed Bonavita the blacksmith, who with the Sign of the Cross could work wonders. He was known for giving away his clothes to the poor, and using his income to feed the hungry, visit prisons and bury the dead.

He reportedly would get lost in contemplation, one time so much so that he didn't even notice his town (Lugo) was on fire - but when he finally realized what was happening he made a Sign of the Cross and the flames went out.

I love stories like that.

There was something about him that resonated with me. I went to look up more on him on line. Alas, so far I have found nothing in English.

The writer in me is intrigued. The subject of a story? A poem? Maybe a play?

God's blacksmith? Hmm.