Super Saints Our Children Can Emulate-Great Lent 2020-Week 1
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Two years ago, around this time, is when I first started this radio show on Radio Ngjallja in Albania. I want to thank you for reading and learning along with me on how to live out our Orthodox faith and how to center our families on God.
I invite you to sit down with your family and read all together this great lent to the Homemaking Missionary.
A lot has happened since the last radio show during Great Lent in 2019. Amongst the best we welcomed another son into our family, Athan Patrick. Moses Anastas also started Kopesht.
We have been busy and now is a great time to re-focus our lives and keep Christ at the center.
Lately, Moses has been enjoying a lot of cartoons. Some of his favorites are PJ Masks, DinoTrux, Spider-Man, Batman, and Paw Patrol. He does enjoy watching documentaries about the ocean, sharks, and dinosaurs. But something that a lot of his shows and books he reads has in common is that they all have this “super hero” aspect to them.
Let us look at one of his most favorite shows: PJ Masks. His favorite character is Cat Boy, also known as Connor. In the show the three kids always “save the day” by fighting crime and always being the heroes. There are some evil characters in the show, Night Ninja, Romeo, and Luna Girl. In every episode, the three kids are presented with a problem and they have to figure out a way to fix it. By the end they are the heroes.
Whenever Moses wants to pretend play, it almost always revolves around him being a super hero (most of the time Cat Boy). He has a lot of fun playing these games and of course watching the show. But as we begin another time of fasting and preparing for Pascha, I often like to refocus him in the direction of Christ. During Great Lent I really like for all of us to practice a little less watching cartoons and television shows and practice a little more reading about the Saints.
An idea I had to do with Moses was to share with him every week two Saints that are ‘super’ and lived a life that we can learn from, their mistakes and their triumphs. Now I want to share that I am not saying that Saints are Superheroes who are ultimately different and are not human. Rather, they are models of how to live a life with Christ at the center, heroes of the Faith, and super in their love for Christ. Instead of my sons only hearing about these fake superheroes in movies and cartoons, I want them also to hear about the super saints that we have that are real in our Orthodox Christian faith.
In addition to sharing these stories with you, I invite your whole family to listen in and learn about super saints that we can emulate. Each Saint will have a specific trait that we can learn from them and put into use in our lives.
Let us begin with St. Melangell of Wales, who I recently learned about.
Melangell, also known as Monacella, was an Irish princess born in the late 6th Century. She grew up to be a lovely woman and her parents wanted to arrange for her to be married to another royal. She refused this marriage stating that she wanted to pursue a life of prayer. Her father was very angry at this decision. He insisted that she go through with this arranged marriage. Melangell thought that fighting against her father would have been impossible, she ran away from her family. She eventually found her way to a beautiful wilderness at the Tanant Valley in Northern Wales. Here she was able to live a life of prayer living in a cave and sleeping on a rock slab. Her only companions were small animals and creatures.
After fifteen years, a man was hunting in the wilderness. He was Brochfael the Prince of Powys. His hunting dogs scared a rabbit and they pursued the rabbit further into the wilderness. As Brochfael followed his dogs he saw a woman with the rabbit laying calmly in her dress. Instead of his dogs ready to capture the rabbit, they sat cowering in amazement of the woman. The Prince too was amazed at the woman. After awhile, he asked the woman who she was and where she came from. Melangell told him her story and he was astonished by her strength and character. He begged her to come with him and to be his wife.
Melangell did not accept this offer, she denied with grace. So the Prince gave her a large piece of land in the wilderness. The Prince only asked one thing in return, he wanted her to open a monastery for other women seeking peace and solitude. She agreed only if the land be a refuge for people and also for the animals. She did not want any hunting to happen on the property. Brochfael agreed. This piece of land later became known as Pennant Melangell.
During Melangell’s life many animals and creatures were saved from hunters. The tradition continued for centuries, and it is even said now if a rabbit is being pursued by hunting dogs or a hunter and someone shouts after it, “God and Melangell be with you,” it will escape. Rabbits in Wales are called wyn back Melangell, which means Melangell’s little lambs.
The rabbit is a special animal for the Celts because it symbolizes abundance, good fortune, and prosperity. There is a saying that since the rabbit can run very fast uphill in order to escape its enemies, it also symbolizes Christians fleeing evil and becoming closer to Christ.
St. Melangell is the patron saint of rabbits, small creatures, and the natural environment. Her Feast Day is May 17th.
What can we learn to emulate from St. Melangell?
We can learn that she was not convinced by her father wanting to marry her off to live a life filled with everything money can buy. She realized what God was calling her to do.
It’s a good example to our children that sometimes it can be hard to listen to God, that we shouldn’t be swayed into the nice things in life. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with having nice things and a comfortable life, but that should not come before listening to God and the plan that he has for us.One thing that has been kind of hard for Moses lately is showing compassion and love to other people. He really does not like to give away any of his things or share them. But, we remind him that God has called us to love one another. A way we are practicing this is that we always bring a 10 or 20 cents (from his allowance), or a small piece of food, with us on our way to church. Then he can practice giving it to a person in need, primarily a beggar. At first this was pretty difficult for him. But now, he has gotten the hang of it and he shares what he has with those in need despite still having a hard time.
Daniel was a humble, hardworking, Godly man from Israel that was captured when Jerusalem was defeated by the Babylonians. God knew that Daniel had a very strong faith and belief in Him; God also knew that Daniel would give all of the glory to Him for whatever happened in his life.
The King of Persia made Daniel an important leader in the kingdom because he was very smart and King Darius liked him. But the other leaders in the kingdom didn't like that Daniel was above them because he was a captive from Israel, he wasn't a Persian. They decided they would get Daniel in trouble so the king would get rid of Daniel, but they couldn't do it because Daniel was obeying all of the laws! The only way they could get Daniel in trouble was by tricking the king into passing a new law; the law said that everyone had to pray to King Darius and no other god or they would be thrown into the lions' den!
They knew that Daniel would pray to God everyday, and he continued to do so from his window, even after the law was passed. Daniel was caught praying to God so they threw him into a den of hungry lions! The Bible says that God sent an angel to protect Daniel from the lions, and the next day Daniel was taken out of the lions' den without a scratch! King Darius was so happy that God protected Daniel and he told the story to all the people of his empire.
What can we learn to emulate from Prophet Daniel?
A great lesson that we all can learn in the story of Daniel is that we should never be afraid to pray to God and tell other people about Him.
One thing we are trying to teach Moses is praying in school before he eats. I remember when I was younger I would always be embarrassed to make the sign of the cross (because no one else would do it) and ask God to bless my food before I ate it. But as I grew up I realized that it is a perfectly good thing to do and that it is a witness to other people. This is what we are trying to instill in our children. For them to be witnesses and disciples of Christ. It is very important to pray before we eat our food, no matter where we are.
Another lesson that we are implementing more often is forgiveness. I find it quite easy to just mumble sorry when I’ve done something wrong. When we want to say sorry we actually look each other in the eyes and ask for forgiveness, just like we did this past Sunday at Vespers. The act of asking for forgiveness really makes both people think about what has been done and how we can always do better.
So what super saint qualities do St. Mellangell and Prophet Daniel have?
1-at all times, especially difficult times, it is good to talk to God and ask for His help.
2-as much as we talk to God, it is equally important to listen to Him.
3-most importantly, follow God and trust in Him. Daniel followed God and trusted in him when he was put in the lions den. Imagine being face to face with one of the fiercest animals. But because Daniel trusted God with every piece of his mind, soul, and body, God has protected him. Mellangell followed God by letting him lead her into the forest and opening up a monastery. She fought against what others wanted of her, which is a good thing, because she became closer to God in her way.
I want to encourage you as a family to memorize the following two bible passages. Write them down, put them at your prayer corner, and say them daily with your children. That way when they are faced with any type of difficulty or success our children will turn to God.
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 66:19
“But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.”
I look forward to our time together as we Journey through Great Lent. Let us make a clearing in our life and in the lives of our family to let God shine through. Let us teach our children how to emulate the super saints of our beautiful Orthodox Church.