October Drinking Companion
Blessed Chiara Badano, is this months saint. I have been delayed on writing about her for 2 reasons, first I’m simply busy with the birth of my baby girl, and second there’s little on this soon to be saints life. Similar however to the reason we choose her name, that she was born and died in October, my wife mentioned she always liked Chiara, and I said I have a devotion to a future saint who was both born and died in the month of October, it just made sense since our due date was October 12. This month’s story falls into that same category with her day coming up tomorrow, it just made sense with the timing and parallels. It should be noted, I first learned of this future saint when I was preparing to give my first retreat talk. The woman in charge of helping me, gave me this Blessed as the patron for my talk. Since then she’s always been with me, and I think of her especially on October 29 and now with my daughter.
To begin Chiara was born Oct 29, and died Oct 7 at the age of 18. During her life she had an awakening and began to unite herself with the forsaken image of Christ. She understood through suffering she would unite herself to her Creator. This is a simple universal understanding of life, that unites many religions in different respects. For Catholics it’s at the core of most everything we do.
Chiara was picked on for her faith, but persevered in sharing it with others. During her chemotherapy she would share her faith and encourage others suffering from depression in the hospital. She even went as far to arrange things for her parents after her death, like a Valentine’s Day meal, and Christmas cards. She was always thinking of serving others in very sweet little ways. This just captured who I hope my child Chiara Therese would be. Chiara meaning clear, and Therese meaning harvest, combine means a clear harvest. With these two saints I hope that my child will bring a clear harvest to our Lord by the end of her life, just as the three saints that influenced her name (St. Clare of Assisi, the more popular Chiara, St. Therese of Lisieux and Blessed Chiara which is Clare in Italian).
In close, her story shares she enjoyed going to coffeeshops, one of my favorites, so much so I started a company. In addition she was a tennis player and it was through tennis she found her cancer. One day she was playing and felt a pain, upon checking it out they discovered a form of cancer. In close, I hope to one day visit her tomb, and will say I hope to bring my daughter to her canonization. If it’s God’s will it will be done.
