This weekend I read about the life of a saint whose memory is sometimes celebrated in the Catholic Church over this past weekend. Her name was Saint Elizabeth of Hungary – this woman was the daughter of the king of Hungary and gave birth to the future king. She was a noblewoman and yet she gave all of this up to become a servant of the poor and sick. She would wear simple clothing and feed hundreds of poor people on a daily basis. Here was a woman of royal blood in the 1200’s who gave up her comfortable and safe life to live a life of service to the poor. I have to say that I find this inspirational. It is interesting to see that aspects of society have not changed much over the centuries. The sick and the poor have always been with us, yet it takes extraordinary courage and character to devote ones life to the service of this part of society. In the past century we have seen Mother Theresa devote her life to the dying. Who is going to inspire us to really do good in this century? Is it you or I? We often don’t think of society in the past as being advanced in any way and yet the dilemma that this woman faced over 800 years ago is no different from the one that I face in my life today. She (and I am sure countless others) was able to make the right choice and have a significant impact on society. It is rather a stirring example for me to look up to and strive towards in my life.

I often think that we do not have many great role models in our society. Generally the people that our kids and ourselves look up to are movie stars or sports legends. For the most part these people are incredibly poor role models, yet I would imagine that they contribute the most to the shaping of societies norms. Fantastic role models that are truly great exist out there, one just needs to look a little harder to find them. These are the stories that I would like to share with my children to fill them with the wonder of what can be done with humility and the spirit of God.