Optional Memorial of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Religious

Brief Background:

Saint Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303–1373) was born into a noble family in Sweden and lived a remarkable life as a wife, mother of eight children, mystic, and religious foundress. After the death of her husband, she dedicated herself completely to God through prayer, works of charity, and pilgrimage. She received many spiritual visions that encouraged the renewal of the Church and courageously urged kings, bishops, and even popes to live more faithfully according to the Gospel. She founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, commonly known as the Bridgettines, and spent her final years in Rome promoting reform and peace. She was canonized in 1391, and in 1999 Pope St. John Paul II declared her one of the co-patronesses of Europe.

Saint Bridget is the patron saint of Sweden, Europe (co-patroness), widows, pilgrims, and the Bridgettine Order.

REFLECTION:

Who was your first love?

It's an interesting question because almost everyone has an answer. You probably smiled the moment you read it. Maybe you remembered someone from high school or college. Maybe you remembered the excitement of getting ready just to see that person or how every text message seemed important.

Psychologists tell us that our first love often leaves a lasting impression because it is one of the first deep emotional attachments we experience. It shapes the way we remember love and relationships for years to come.

As I reflected on today's readings, I wondered if God might be asking us a similar question: "Do you remember when I was your first love?"

In the Book of Jeremiah, God speaks almost like a loving parent or spouse looking back on happier days: "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride."

God remembers when Israel trusted Him completely. They followed Him through the wilderness with faith and depended on Him for everything. But as life became more comfortable, they slowly drifted away. They stopped looking to God and began looking elsewhere for fulfillment.

God describes it with a powerful image. They abandoned "the source of living water" and chose broken cisterns that could not even hold water.

Isn't that something we still experience today?

As parishioners, we can become so busy serving that we forget why we began serving in the first place. We attend Mass, volunteer, sing in the choir, teach catechism, or serve on committees, but our relationship with Christ can slowly become routine instead of personal.

As teachers and school staff, we can become so focused on lesson plans, meetings, grading papers, coaching teams, or preparing students for success that we forget the deeper reason we chose Catholic education—to help young people encounter Jesus Christ.

The work itself is good, but if we are not careful, even good work can replace the One for whom we are doing it.

That is why Jesus says in today's Gospel that some people "look but do not see, and hear but do not understand." God continues to speak, but our hearts can become distracted by the noise of everyday life.

Saint Bridget of Sweden understood this challenge. She lived during a difficult period in the Church and saw many reasons to become discouraged. Instead of walking away, she drew closer to Christ. As a wife, mother, widow, and later a religious foundress, she reminded both Church and civil leaders that renewal begins not with changing everyone else but with allowing God to renew our own hearts.

Perhaps her example reminds us that every renewal in a parish, every renewal in a Catholic school, and every renewal in a family begins with one simple question:

Is Jesus still my first love? Not just someone I believe in. Not just someone I pray to when life becomes difficult. But the One who truly has first place in my heart.

Perhaps today is an invitation to remember why we first fell in love with Christ. To rediscover the joy of prayer, the beauty of the Eucharist, the peace that comes from trusting Him, and the privilege of serving Him.

God has never forgotten His love for us. May we never forget our first love for Him.