Saint for the new year

"... since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..." -- Hebrews 12:1 (RSV)

For several years I've engaged in the practice of drawing the name of a saint to be my "saint buddy" for the year. Some folks do this just before the start of Advent, which is certainly more in keeping with the liturgical calendar, but since my birthday is so close to the end of the calendar year, it's always seemed more natural to do it at the end of December.

This year, I pulled St. Mechtilde. I've been acquainted with a lot of saints over the years, but I had no idea who St. Mechtilde was. It turned out that it wasn't that easy to find out, either, as I kept running into references to two Mechtildes, who seemed to be different, but also shared some similarities, so that I actually wasn't sure if they were two women or one.

Finally, I came across a teaching given by Pope Benedict XVI at a General Audience in September 2010 on St. Mechtilde (or Matilda) of Hackeborn. He noted that the same German convent was home in the late 1200s to four famous mystics, two named Mechtilde and two named Gertrude. To make things even more confusing, St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn was the younger sister of one of the Gertrudes and novice mistress to the other Gertrude, St. Gertrude the Great, and it wasn't unusual for folks to get those relationships mixed up, too! After reading his comments, I decided, if St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn was important enough to warrant a teaching from Pope Benedict, then she was probably the one I pulled, although if the other St. Mechtilde would also like to pray for me this year, that would be just fine with me. :-)

The slip of paper with her name included a quote, not from St. Mechtilde, but from Jesus speaking to St. Mechtilde:

"All those who love My gifts in others will receive the same merit and glory as those to whom I have granted those gifts."

I love that thought. I love the humility and gratitude and hiddenness reflected in it. It's very like St. Therese -- or rather, St. Therese is very like Jesus! She said something of a similar vein that's recorded in her Last Conversations:

"How often have I thought that I may owe all the graces I've received to the prayers of a person who begged them from God for me, and whom I shall know only in heaven.

"Yes, a very little spark will be capable of giving birth to great lights in the Church, like the Doctors and Martyrs, who will undoubtedly be higher in heaven than the spark; but how could anyone think that their glory will not become his?

"In heaven, we shall not meet with indifferent glances, because all the elect will discover that they owe to each other the graces that merited the crown for them." (St. Therese of Lisieux, Her Last Conversations, tr. by Fr. John Clarke, conversation #5, July 15, 1897)

Sts. Mechtilde and Therese, please pray for me!