Today is the feast day of Saint Agatha, but it is also the day we remember our little baby in heaven. Since she (we don't know what sex the baby was. We just that it was a girl) went to heaven this day, we names her Agatha. She would be 8 years old today. I'm glad to have a little angle in heaven praying for us, but it also makes me sad. So here is a little bit about Saint Agatha and a prayer.
Saint Agatha was very beautiful. People looked at her and said "Oh, she is the fairest girl alive." But Agatha was also very pure and good. She loved Jesus Christ very much. She promised God she would never marry. "All my love is Yours," she said. "I will live and die for You."
Now it happened that the Governor of Sicily where Agatha lived heard of her beauty. So he sent for her. Soldiers came and arrested her. "You are a Christian," they said. "So you must go to jail." "Dear Lord Jesus," she prayed, "I belong to You. Do not let this tyrant have power over me." He made love to her. But she refused him. So he threw her into prison.
The governor was sure Agatha would be so afraid of prison that she would consent to love him. Instead, she made the wicked woman who was her jailer love God too. So the Governor ordered her to be tortured. She was not afraid. Then he ordered her to be beaten. "Dear Jesus," she cried, "come and take me." And Jesus came and took her home to heaven. Her Feast is on February 5th. (I got this off of google since the book I had didn't have her in it.)
Now here is the prayer:
Lord, let your forgiveness be won for us by the pleading of Saint Agatha, who found favor with you by her chastity and by her courage in suffering death for the Holy Gospel. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
