St. Brigid was certainly raised by parents who were not married. In fact, her father, upon finding out about her pending birth, sold her mother, a slave, to a Druid man. So no wonder she is considered a patron saint for children whose parents are not married.
Honestly, I have a hard time imagining the what the prevalent culture was like in the first few centuries of the Church. I wonder if a strong family unit was socially important. in those days. It sometimes seems like the prevalence of broken homes is unique to our lifetimes. I know a lot of us worry that current societal trends are tearing apart the value of strong families, and that the loss of strong families is leading to all kinds of other problems.
Well I still worry about those things, but I am coming to realize that broken homes have been a problem for a very long time. I also find great hope in St. Brigid. To say that she didn’t have a strong supportive parental influence for parts of her life would be an understatement, yet she lived an exemplary life, such that the Church confidently recognizes her as a saint.
Can we learn anything from St. Brigid that would be helpful for children today? Certainly, Brigid’s mother taught her about the Christian faith, so that she was prepared to receive Jesus in her heart. Her faith was strong enough to devote herself to the Lord.
She spent her life trying to serve the least of His people. Let’s just contemplate that for a while. She spent at least the first ten years of her life as a slave and the daughter of a slave. It would have been understandable for her to feel that life was not fair to her and to become completely focused on a desire for self-preservation. How did she become so focused on others? I suppose that is the power of our faith.
Do we live the best Christian lives we can live like St. Brigid did? Do we let life’s difficulties interfere with our devotion to Christ? Do we do all we can do to win souls for God? It’s a lot to think about! But I like having St. Brigid as inspiration.
Dear Lord, Thank You for the wonderful family and friends You have given us. For those of us who have parents in our lives, help us to appreciate what a blessing that is. Also, please strengthen all families and guide us to be family to people who need us.