Dear Dina,<\/p>\n
Your notes never fail to uplift me.\u00a0 You are unique among my nieces.\u00a0 None of them has been given such a cross as our Lord has seen fit to give you, and few of them bear their crosses with as much faith and love.\u00a0 I am truly sorry to hear that your mother\u2019s mental health gives no signs of improvement, but I am deeply edified by your trust in Providence, and your continued, faithful presence in her life.\u00a0 Your example of self-sacrificing, Christ-like love reminds me a lot of today\u2019s saint.<\/p>\n
Dymphna is one of those mysterious figures from the early Middle Ages.\u00a0 We know less about her actual life than we do about the remarkable influence her life had and continues to have.<\/p>\n
She was the child of a pagan Irish King (Damon was his name) and a beautiful Christian woman who died while Dymphna was still just a girl.\u00a0 Upon her mother\u2019s death, her father fell into a violent depression and left Ireland in search of a woman who could equal her in beauty. \u00a0Dymphna, meanwhile, was left under the care either of relatives or of the holy priest St Gerebernus, or both \u2013 we don\u2019t really know.<\/p>\n
Damon\u2019s quest kept him away for years, but was unsuccessful.\u00a0 When he finally returned, his daughter had grown to be a beautiful young woman (still in her teens).\u00a0 She resembled her mother, and as a result, her father, in his abnormal mental state, conceived an incestuous desire for her.\u00a0 But she had been brought up Christian, and betook herself to St Gerebernus, who recommended that she flee from her father instead of submitting to his sinful designs.\u00a0 Together they crossed the English Channel into Belgium.\u00a0 They found a small oratory near the present day town of Gheel, and there they settled down to live a simple life of work, prayer, and service to the poor and suffering.<\/p>\n
Their peaceful Christian way of life was short-lived, however.\u00a0 Her Father pursued and found her.\u00a0 He demanded that she obey his desires, but she refused.\u00a0 He sent his servants to kill both the priest and his daughter.\u00a0 They beheaded St Gerebernus, but they were pacified by the beautiful, holy maiden.\u00a0 This put Damon into an uncontrollable rage, and he himself came and struck the head off of his daughter.<\/p>\n
By then, Dymphna\u2019s reputation for Christian charity and goodness had already been established.\u00a0 The sick and poor visited her grave and implored her intercession.\u00a0 Soon cures were reported \u2013 especially cures of the mentally insane.\u00a0 Devotion spread, and a hospital for the mentally ill was constructed.\u00a0 The cures, the devotion, and the hospital are all still going strong today.<\/p>\n
My dear niece, it doesn\u2019t sound like you need much encouragement from me, but even so, I think today\u2019s saint shows clearly how God works in this sinful world.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t eliminate suffering and sin \u2013 even the most horrible and horrifying kinds.\u00a0 Rather, he conquers them with the love of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And I am convinced that his conquest is advancing far and wide through you.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Dina, Your notes never fail to uplift me.\u00a0 You are unique among my nieces.\u00a0 None of them has been given such a cross as our Lord has seen fit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n