Choosing Saints for 2013

I am late on this post!   I've mentioned before that go to the Saints' Name Generator  all the time to pick saints for various intentions.   ( By the way, you probably already know, but Jen Fulwiler who made this great randomizer has been having some serious health issues and can use prayers)

 Last year I decided to pick a saint for each family member so I could especially ask that saint for prayers for that particular person.   I did that again this year so I guess I have a tradition building.   I actually started this post back in early January, but I got distracted, so publishing is a month late.

If you are interested, you can find information on the tradition of the intercession of saints here and here (pdf).    For me, asking the intercession of the saints is similar to asking for prayers from my friends and fellow Christians here on earth.   In addition, it gives me a chance to know some of these historical Christian witnesses a bit better and to learn more about the many, many unique paths there are to friendship with God.   All the saints' lives and words point to the one Redeemer, so it doesn't distract me from the Lord Jesus, but rather supports me in my goal to abide in Him. 

Here is my list of saints for various family members, with a little information about them (the saints, that is).    

(husband) Kevin -- St Philomena
An early church virgin and martyr.  Little is known about her life, but her bones and an inscription were discovered in the early 19th century, and there is an amazing list of great Catholics who had a fervent devotion to her, including almost all the 19th century popes, and John Marie Vianney.    She is the patron of babies, children and youth and her feast day is August 11.  More about her here.   

My Parents (who are deceased) -- St Marguerite Bourgeous
This is a Canadian saint so seems very appropriate for my parents -- my Mom was a Canadian and my parents met in Canada when my Dad was at medical school at McGill University.  Furthermore, my parents led missionary lives and St Marguerite is the patron of the poor.    Her feast day is January 12.  

My Siblings and Their Families  -- St Francis Xavier
This is an amazing saint with a long list of patronages including many missions, countries and for navigators.   His memorial is December 3. 

It is not the actual physical exertion that counts towards a man’s progress, nor the nature of the task, but by the spirit of faith with which it is undertaken. -Francis Xavier

Clare and (her fiance) Peter -- St Catherine of Sweden 
Memorial day is March 24.  She was a married saint and daughter of a saint (Bridget of Sweden), one of 8 children.   She is invoked against miscarriage. 


Sean -- St Peregrine Laziosi 
St Peregrine's  feast day is May 1.  He is known as an intercessor against cancer.    Here is a nice story about his conversion:

Peregrine Laziosi was born of a wealthy family at Forli, Italy, in 1260. As a youth he was active in politics as a member of the anti-papal party. During one uprising, which the Pope sent St. Philip Benizi to mediate, Philip was struck in the face by Peregrine. When Philip offered the other cheek, Peregrine was so overcome that he repented and converted to Catholicism. 

Kieron -- St Raphael the Archangel 
St Raphael is one of the seven archangels who behold the face of God.  His feast day is celebrated September 29th with the other named archangels, Michael and Gabriel.    He is the patron of travelers.  

Liam -- St Catherine de Ricci
ST Catherine's  feast day is February 13 (Ash Wednesday this year!) and she is invoked against illness.    Her father opposed her entrance into a convent so she lived a prayerful life at home until he relented.

Brendan -- St James the Greater
His memorial is July 25th (August 5th in the traditional calendar).   He was one of the apostles, brother to John, said to be martyred by King Herod a few years after the birth of the Church.    He has a long list of patronage, including veterinarians, knights, apothecaries, and various countries.


Aidan -- St Frances Xavier Cabrini
She is the patron of hospital workers and impossible causes, which seems suitable in relation to Aidan.   Her feast day is November 27.

At her canonization on July 7, 1946, Venerable Pius XII said, "Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed beyond the strength of a woman."

Paddy -- St Joseph Calasanz
His memorial is August 25 (formerly 27).  He is the patron of schools and universities and schoolchildren.  He founded free schools for the poorest children, but his life was difficult and he died while his order was embroiled in controversy. 

Joseph’s friendship with the astronomer Galileo Galilei caused a stir with some Church officials. Some of the ruling class objected that to educate the poor would cause social unrest. Other Orders that worked with the poor were afraid they would be absorbed by the Piarists.....In his old age, Joseph suffered through seeing his Order torn apart. He was accused of incompetence by Father Mario Sozzi, ... (successor) Father Cherubini ...pursued the same course as Sozzi, and nearly destroyed the Order. A papal commission charged with examining the Order acquitted Joseph of all accusations, and in 1645, returned him to superior of the Order, but internal dissent continued, and in 1646 Pope Innocent X dissolved the Order, placing the priests under control of their local bishops.The Piarists were reorganized in 1656, eight years after Joseph’s death.

My Patron for 2013:

ETA:    Amy pointed out I had forgotten to choose my own.  Big oversight!   So I went and got St Dymphna.     She is the patron of happy families and therapists and is appealed to against mental illness, neurological disorders and abuse.   She is also appealed to against the loss of parents, I suppose because her Christian mother died when she was young, and she herself was killed by her own father.   She is Irish.   Her feast day is May 15.     Nice to make all these new friends! 

Fourth Term: St Peregrine Laziosa

My calendar told me it was time to start thinking about the next 2-month term, so I went to the Saint's Name Generator to pick the patron saint for the December/January term.   It picked St Peregrine for me.

During these past three terms, the saints picked for me have had some obvious relation to my homeschool.   But what was up with picking St Peregrine?   He is the patron saint of cancer patients, of course.  

I thought about it for a while, and decided that as usual, God knew what He was doing.   St Peregrine is also the patron of incurable chronic disease.   Thirteen years ago, Aidan was very often in and out of the hospital.... mostly in.   Though we were not on the oncology floor, certainly we came to know many children with chronic disease, and their parents, as well.  These families are undergoing incredible stress, and the holiday season is particularly hard for them.    Since I was often there with Aidan during the Advent season, that season often brings those families to mind. 

Also, both my parents died of cancer-related illness.   And another close relative of mine is undergoing cancer treatment this week.    Finally, I just found out that the husband of a dear kind person at my local church has been diagnosed with cancer.

I am realizing that while I tend to focus on academics in the homeschool, the December/January term has always been primarily about relationships and especially, thinking of the poor, the marginalized, the ill, the depressed.    How can we help them?   Faith at Strewing has a 40 days for the poor series going on, listing ideas for helping out.

So I'm glad that God once again spoke to me through the saint's name generator.   Advents are generally difficult for me.   Many of our Advents dealt with illness and death.   Last Advent, my mom suffered the neurological event that eventually led to her passing in March.     "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light".... this is really literal to me, so much so that Advent almost always feels very dark to me.   I think it's OK, because it ends in the peace and joy of the Nativity, but I've found that pushing away that sadness is a recipe for inviting real depression. 

Here is a saint who can help.    And guess what?  I find that he has a national shrine quite close to where my two oldest sons live.    

St. Peregrine, as a humble Servant of Mary, you experienced human weakness and the pain and suffering of sickness. Knowing that medicine and human knowledge have limits, we pray for all those involved with the medical profession that they will be a true source of healing and comfort to all people. Like you, we also turn to God in our suffering. Just as Jesus reached out and touched you with His healing hand, we pray that the following sick person(s) will be strengthened in body and spirit and cured of his or her illness by Jesus Christ through your intercession.

(Here mention the name(s) of your sick relative or friend.)

In gratitude we pray for all people of the world that they will come to know you, St. Peregrine, and the love that God has for each of them. Amen.

 

More on intercession of the saints here and here.
 

Fra Lippo Lippi, the Presentation at the Temple, St Peregrine on the right, and St Philip, who converted him, on the left.  

Our fourth term will be beginning in December.   Here is our third term patron.

Third Term: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

First of all!  If you live in California, and are homeschooling, and aren't enrolled in a charter or private school, don't forget to fill out your California Private School Affadavit   You can do it online, it takes only a few minutes, and the deadline is October 15.

This week my family started a new 2-month term -- I am calling it the All Souls Term to remind me and mine to pray for the members of the Church Suffering.     If you remember, I choose a patron saint for each 2-month term.  Here is the first term and second term. 

When I visited the Saint's Name Generator to find a patron for the term, I drew St Bernard of Clairvaux.   Though his saint's day is August 20, he was a close friend of St Malachy of Armagh, and even wrote a biography of him.   Paddy's very good friend Malachy (youngest of Chari) was born in October, and I was one of the first people outside the family to see him  : ) so that is a neat connection. 

  Pretty much Bernard's whole family were Saints or Blesseds, so he might be a good saint to pray for in regard to one's efforts at raising a family.   

I have a book around the house called The Family that Overtook Christ that I got a long time ago as a new Catholic.   I usually have my kids read it in 8th or 9th grade.  I don't think Kieron has read it yet, and since this year we are on the Middle Ages it might be a good time. 

If you want to see an example of Bernard's writing, here is a passage on our Guardian Angels, who we celebrated this week (October 2).  

In this, therefore, brethren, let us affectionately love His angels as one day our future coheirs; meanwhile, however, as counselors and defenders appointed by the Father and placed over us. Why should we fear under such guardians? Those who keep us in all our ways can neither be overcome nor be deceived, much less deceive. They are faithful; they are prudent; they are powerful; why do we tremble? Let us only follow them, let us remain close to them, and in the protection of the God of heaven let us abide. As often, therefore, as a most serious temptation is perceived to weigh upon you and an excessive trial is threatening, call to your guard, your leader, your helper in your needs, in your tribulation; cry to him and say: “Lord, save us; we perish!”

 I was going to write about the books I am using with the boys, but this is already getting long, so maybe in another post.  I will say that I am happy with how things are going.   We had a LONG break from formal academics -- I think close to a year now.  The kids are not complaining, so I think they were ready to get back to some studying.   

I usually pray quite hard about what direction to go in during a particular season.  Last year I planned to mostly unschool, and that is what we mostly did.   This year, I really really wanted to do a poetic curriculum  -- a Circe-style curriculum. 

But I came up against some of my limitations here, and the limitations of our situation.   Basically I need to have lots of things the kids can do mostly on their own, that are simple to pick up and go with.   Because we are doing a lot of picking up and going. 


Now that I am thinking about it, it is much like the Avilian Method, again.    We are doing the 4Rs in a very streamlined way (ie using workbooks and textbooks for spines) and then just adding readings and other activities on to that base.

Autumn Nature Study: Fostering Douglas Squirrels

"My brothers the birds, you should love your creator deeply and praise him always. He has given you feathers to w ear, wings to fly with, and w hat ever else you need. He has made you noble among his creatures and given you a dwelling in the pure air. You neither sow nor reap, yet he nevertheless protects and governs you without any anxiety on your part."  Life of St Francis of Assisi

A few weeks ago,  two of my teenagers were standing below our outdoor statue of St Francis practicing archery.   Unexpectedly  two very young squirrels scrambled down onto their shoulders.    The boys were charmed, of course (and when one of them posted on Facebook about it, his friend said "Sometimes I think you must be a Disney character").

But of course, the babies were not just being friendly.  It turned out that they were orphaned.   We put seeds and water out for them, but a couple of days went by and it was clear that they were not old enough to survive on solid foods.  One of them eventually fell from the tree and was too weak to go back up, and one of my sons climbed up to the tree and rescued the other one clinging there.

We have rescued infant squirrels before, so we already knew the basic protocol.  

These are Douglas squirrels; John Muir describes them this way:

Go where you will throughout the noble woods of the Sierra Nevada, among the giant pines and spruces of the lower zones, up through the towering Silver Firs to the storm-bent thickets of the summit peaks, you everywhere find this little squirrel the master-existence. Though only a few inches long, so intense is his fiery vigor and restlessness, he stirs every grove with wild life, and makes himself more important than even the huge bears that shuffle through the tangled underbrush beneath him. Every wind is fretted by his voice, almost every bole and branch feels the sting of his sharp feet. How much the growth of the trees is stimulated by this means it is not easy to learn, but his action in manipulating their seeds is more appreciable. Nature has made him master forester and committed most of her coniferous crops to his paws.

So I guess this is our nature project for this fall.  For the first couple of weeks, my second son Brendan was their primary caretaker.    We weren't even sure if they would survive after 3 days on their own without sustenance, dehydrated and shocky as they were, but they are resilient creatures and bounced back in a few days and have seemingly thrived.   They are already 1/3 bigger than when we first got them, and way more gymnastic.

Now Brendan is back in college up in Oregon so I am mostly feeding them, though usually at least one of the kids comes in to watch.

  Brendan decided to give them Norse names so they are called Harbinger and Skald.  I can't tell them apart, but he can.

How long the life of a Douglas Squirrel may be, I don’t know. The young seem to sprout from knot-holes, perfect from the first, and as enduring as their own trees. It is difficult, indeed, to realize that so condensed a piece of sun-fire should ever become dim or die at all.

The photos aren't the best, since I took them with my cell phone.

All the true squirrels are more or less birdlike in speech and movements; but the Douglas is preëminently so, possessing, as he does, every attribute peculiarly squirrelish enthusiastically concentrated. He is the squirrel of squirrels, flashing from branch to branch of his favorite evergreens crisp and glossy and undiseased as a sunbeam.

While ascending trees all his claws come into play, but in descending the weight of his body is sustained chiefly by those of the hind feet; still in neither case do his movements suggest effort, though if you are near enough you may see the bulging strength of his short, bear-like arms, and note his sinewy fists clinched in the bark.
Whether going up or down, he carries his tail extended at full length in line with his body, unless it be required for gestures.

They are valiant, sharp, unsentimental little things.   I am looking forward to releasing them into their natural habitat, but in the meantime, caring for them gives me a chance to think of God's marvellous works, and be a tiny part of His care for the least of His creatures.  For some reason, seeing these little mammals, how much in common they have with us, yet how unreflective and confident they are, makes me more aware of God's mysterious grace and providence for all things, including me and mine. 

St Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Second Term: St Brigid of Ireland

Since it is now August, I went to choose another saint for the next two-month term.

St. Brigid of Ireland

Feast: February 1

Patronage: Babies; Children Whose Parents are Not Married; Dairy Workers; Fugitives; Mariners; Midwives; Nuns; Poets; Printing Presses; Scholars; Travellers
Learn more about St. Brigid of Ireland

Jennifer Fulwiler's Saint's Name Generator has been so good to me so many times that I am now going to add her apostolate to my regular prayers : ),   I love that generator.  Sometimes I go and meet new saints just to cheer myself up or get extra prayers for something.  But this choosing of a saint for each two months is working out well. 

Brigid is an old favorite -- Paddy would have been called Brigid if he had only had that second X chromosome.  Many years before that, when I was about the age Paddy is now, my Scottish grandfather always (jokingly) requested that I name my daughter Brigid.   I think he thought it would be rather a dreadful name to inflict on a child -- I still remember his Scottish accent rolling out "Brriigggid!" but I think it is a beautiful name.

And we are definitely having a traveler's summer, so it's great to have a patron of travelers at hand.    This weekend we head up the mountain to a family reunion, and next week we are off again, this time to Lake Tahoe.   Then southward to take my daughter back to college.  Then northward again in September.  

Here is a nice prayer to St Brigid:

Prayer to Saint Brigid 

 Saint Brigid
You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.

May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
 May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen

There are some more prayers here.

 Here's how to make a St Brigid's Cross.  And a story about it. 

Sort of looks like that extra X chromosome whose notable absence gave me a Patrick Gabriel instead of a Brigid Rose.   Not that I would trade my Paddy for anything; but I would love for him to have had a little sister, and St Brigid was a very good friend of St Patrick's.   

Brigid is described as a little like Paddy, high-spirited and warm-hearted,     She cared deeply about the poor and got in trouble with her father for giving away her things to the less fortunate, rather like St Francis of Assisi.    Maybe I can ask her help in figuring out how to be more helpful to those in need. 

So that is my saint for the next term!  Anyone else choose patron saints for school terms or for different seasons of the year?   

Choosing Martha

I'm still talking about the "pray for discernment" part of my preparation checklist.  Over here I listed some of the details of my praying and processing during the summer.

Some of the things related to prayer on my list

(1) hold a personal spiritual/educational retreat,   I usually do most of this alone.  But in the past five years, Chari and I have sometimes visited each other to hold a similar retreat but with the advantage of having two heads instead of just one.   This is really nice if you can arrange it -- to plan with a friend who shares many of your goals.  Especially if you are unable to go to homeschool conferences (I haven't been to any and Chari has only been to one for a short time, I believe) it is very invigorating to share problems, concerns, solutions and ideas with each other.

(2) choose a saint as patron for that particular year.   Besides Our Blessed Mother I have chosen St Ignatius, St Thomas Aquinas, St Therese, St John Bosco, and others (I'm forgetting the rest right now).

This year I decided to do things a bit differently.  For one thing, after praying about our homeschool calendar, I decided to officially homeschool year round.   We used to do this but got away from it while Sean was on the public school schedule.

For another thing, I decided to divide the year into six 2 month blocks.  If I do that we can have 2-3 lighter weeks during each block.    This will let me be flexible when we are traveling, and we will have more time for a lighter schedule on solemnities and feast days.

While I was planning this, it occurred to me that I could choose a patron saint for each 2-month block!


I love the  Saints' Name Generator  -- sometimes I go there and pick out a saint just for fun.

So I went there to pick a patron for this summer block of time. 

 It turned out very providentially to be St Martha!

Providential in that not only is her feast day at the end of July, so it almost marks the passing to a new time frame, but she is perfect to remind me to be "faithful in the little things" without forgetting the One Needful Thing.   That is a big concern of mine since I always seem to pray more during the summer and less during the school year when I get busy and preoccupied. 

Plus, she is the patron saint of cooks and servants, and I need all the help with cooking and hospitality that I can get this summer.   I am determined to upgrade my skills.  My daughter wants to spend time in the kitchen too.  Perfect!

"Martha served."

Martha  is also the saint I picked when Aidan was in the hospital very ill after birth, 13 years ago this June and July.  One of my questions during this time was how fervently to petition God to spare my son.   Hadn't others lost theirs, up to and including Himself?  Wouldn't Aidan be bound straight for heaven?   Was I being TOO fervent, pleading with God without the proviso "Thy Will, not mine, be done?" 

Then I read from the Gospel of John

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have  died. 22 And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"  27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."

Somehow that gave me a way into praying for my infant son.    I said over and over again, "Even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."    I love that testament of faith and insight  -- faith in God's power and understanding of the relationship between the Son and the Father.    It reminds me a little of Mary's "Do whatever He tells you." 

So St. Martha is an old friend, and it is especially wonderful to me to have her as a sort of spiritual guest and advisor during this summer.    When something like this happens when I have been praying a novena, I feel like my prayers are being answered.   It feels like the Holy Spirit gave me Saint Martha to think about and ask for intercession.

She sets such a good example for me in many ways, embodying  the woman of Titus 2:

The aged women, in like manner, in holy attire, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teaching well: That they may teach the young women to be wise, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, sober, having a care of the house, gentle, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Prayer:

Saint Martha, pray for us that we might serve Jesus better. Help us to overcome our distractions and worries to listen to his words and be present to him this day. Amen

through its crystal the world should see God

Our body is a cenacle, a monstrance: through its crystal the world should see God  -- St Gianna Molla

Gianna Molla is a patron of pregnant woman and against abortion.  I love the pictures you can find on the internet of her with her arms around her babies and toddlers.   Today is her feast day.

She was a pediatrician, Catholic action worker and mother of five who postponed cancer treatment to avoid risking the life of her unborn baby.   She died just a few days after her little daughter Gianna was born.

I usually don't get involved in online Catholic blog conversation, but the other day I commented on this bearing blog post  gut-level development of doctrine.    I think I am sort of a textbook example of gut-level development of doctrine (sounds sort of like a circumlocution for multiparity when it's put that way) but it wasn't just gut-level, it was heart-level, and some of the heart aspect came from learning about this saint and feeling connected to her.

Gianna Molla's birthday is the day after mine (though she was born 40 years earlier than I was, in 1922) and she died just six months before I was born, so her youngest daughter is just a few months older than me.

When I was first married, I was not a Catholic, and I had come from a background where contraception was seen as a medical advance equivalent to antibiotics and vaccinations.  But my Catholic husband, even though catechised in the 70's, knew this was wrong.  And so we went into marriage, open to babies.

But I was scared, so scared about all those tens and twenties of babies waiting to drop down on me like hammers from above, the ones they tell you about.     I felt such a tension between the two worldviews.  I felt I had a foot in two worlds, or was looking through glasses with a different prescription for each eye -- very disorienting!)

At first the babies did come fairly fast.   Liam was born two days before our first wedding anniversary.  When he was one year old I conceived again, but it turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy.  Then just a few months later, even with only one Fallopian tube left,  I got pregnant with Brendan, and then when Brendan was a year old  I conceived Clare.   By the time Clare was born I was almost through Catholic initiation and I made my first confession, was confirmed and made my first communion just around the time she was baptized.

"You have your hands full!"  I heard that every time I went to the store.   And yes, I did.  What could I say?  Except "but look how beautiful they are!"  I loved my children very much, loved being around them, but I did not take naturally to my vocation of motherhood.   I wasn't one of those who by nature love all the details of being around small messy unpredictable people, even if they are amazingly cute.   They were cute, and fascinating, but time-consuming and sometimes embarrassing as well.

And living in a university town where nobody around me seemed to have 3 kids under 4 years old, before internet days, I felt so weird and out there, which didn't help either.

Somewhere during those years I read about Gianna Molla and immediately was drawn to her generosity and heroic fidelity to her vocation of motherhood.   She was someone who obviously thrived on her vocation of motherhood.   I asked her intercession to change my heart.   It's funny -- now that I know more about her I know she was really different from me in lots of ways -- a working mother, one of those energetic people who volunteers in Catholic societies and goes skiing and hiking, and someone who naturally loved being a mother so much that she almost felt it was something of a fault that had to be purified through suffering in her last days.   All the more reason for me to admire her though, and I knew the essential part of her story way back there when I needed to!

After those four quick pregnancies I did not conceive again until Clare was past two, and Sean was born just before her third birthday.  That was a space long enough that I started worrying about secondary infertility, and it made me more aware of how much a child was something God gave you, individually and specially, not just a biological phenomenon like catching a cold.   You see, I knew in my mind about special creation and the preciousness of life.  But it hadn't gotten to my heart or gut yet.

 Oddly, Sean was born (somewhat early) on the 20th anniversary of Roe v Wade.  He got into severe neonatal distress and was admitted to the NICU where he struggled for a couple of days before stabilizing.

I watched him fight and the doctors struggling to save him as well as tiny little preemies and sick babies also at the NICU at the time.   I guess the short version of the story is that the events around Sean instilled in me that "gut-level development of doctrine".    We had waited several years for Sean, we had brushed with the possibility of losing him, and along with the graces of the Sacrament it changed my whole outlook.

I have no doubt that God worked with my heart (and gut)  there.

 God did not so much take that fear and resentment away as fill me with an understanding of how precious these lives were, infinitely more precious than they were scary and bothersome.

"What is a vocation? It is a gift from God, so it comes from God. If it is a gift from God, our concern must be to know God's will. We must enter that path: if God wants, when God wants, how God wants. Never force the door."  -- St Gianna Molla

I notice He often works that way.  He doesn't take away my natural self, but He gives me a flood of grace that simply overwhelms the old feelings and habits.    In His own good time.

The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day  -- St Gianna Molla

It occurs to me that this interior development of doctrine, which may start with obedience alone, works like a clarifying agent, working away the smudges and shadows until God shines clearly through the person.  I have a long way to go before that is true of me as a sum total, but in that one area I am able to see a real change over time that affected every level of my being.   The change wasn't so much me becoming better, as the Holy Spirit working to clear and brighten some of the darker parts of my heart.  Obviously the process is very far from being complete, but seeing how He worked this in a very difficult, personal area of my life gives me hope that He can, He does do it in other areas if I allow Him to.