Field Trip #2: St. Mary of the Woods College

The first thing the kids cover in school is to learn the date and about a special Saint of the day.  I am proud of Matt that he has been able to incorporate this routine into the girl's morning.  He has been proactive, researching who is having a feast day and a little bit about their life story the night before.  I feel that he and I have learned so much about the lives of these holy men and women in these past weeks.  On Thursday, Matt called me at work and told me that the Saint of the day was St.Theodora Guerin.  She was a sister that moved from France to Indiana in the 1800's.  She was a martyr for her faith.  I was like, "you have to go there."  I understand the thought of throwing 4 kids in the car to drive 2 hours to a small college on the Indiana/ Illinois border was not high on his to do list.  But seriously how often does this happen?!  After a little bit of persuading and telling him that he would have a good story to tell the Horns, he went.  The kids loved it. Matt asked for St. Theodora's intercession in helping adjust to our move.  She would know what it means to move to a faraway land, right?  

As Matt was driving home he called his buddy, Johnny.  I don't know how he does it but he was able to take this story to a whole new level.  Turns out there was a kid in the youth program several years ago when Matt helped out that was struggling with depression and losing his faith.  Johnny had run into his mom just a short while ago and promised that some serious prayers were coming his way.  The two stories seem almost unrelated until Johnny asks who the saint was and quickly realizes that Saint Theodora was the saint selected by the kid as his confirmation Saint!  Man, goosebumps!  God is good! And so is the army of men and women that he has gathered in heaven.  

Saint Theodora Guerin pray for us.         

Standing by her tomb.

Three relics of St. Theodora.

Fall is upon us.