St. Veronica knelt down, wiped a suffering face with love and compassion, and became a saint! The example of St. Veronica teaches us that loving our neighbors well is a ticket to sainthood. When we can see the face of Jesus in those around us and love them, we are not far from the love St. Veronica showed Jesus in wiping His face. The love we put into small gestures and acts of service holds a power that can make us holy.
Our podcast & reflection for today is by slacker Joy Boudreaux. Joy and her husband, Ben, were both born and raised in the small rural village of Parks, Louisiana. They both graduated from Breaux Bridge High School, where she helped him pass English IV and he helped her pass Advanced Math. It was a good match! Ben graduated from USL in May 1995 (no typo) and the high school sweethearts married just one week later. Joy continued on at USL as an English secondary education major, until early 1996 to when they learned their first child was on his way.
Ben and Joy continue to raise their family in Cecilia, Louisiana where they’ve lived since 2008. Ben has worked in the IT field for 25 years now. His IT work led him to Brown and Brown Insurance Agency over a decade ago where he continues to work as an Enterprise Engineer. Joy was able to put her educational experience to good use by homeschooling their kids for the past 13 years.
They now have 15 children: Anthony - 23; Thomas - 20; Samuel - 18; MaryJoe - 17 (lost to miscarriage in 2002); Grace - 16; Teresa - 14; Charlie - 13; Henry - 12 (lost to miscarriage in 2007); their ‘big twins,’ Max & Simon - 11; their ‘little twins,’ Eric & Adam - 10 (stillborn in 2009 at 34 weeks); Carolyn - 8; Lucy - 7; and little Ella - 4 (died in 2016).
They feel blessed to have been able to care for Ella themselves in their home with the help of hospice care for all 8 months and 6 days of her short life. After months of assorted health issues and complications, including morphine shots for pain management, Ella earned her crown on Valentine’s Day of 2016. As Joy says, “Jesus and Mary themselves came to bring her back home.”
The Boudreauxs are both blog contributors for Red Bird Ministries. Joy also has her own blog where she writes about large family life, homeschooling, being Catholic and living life while parenting kids both here on earth and in Heaven.
Read more about today's featured podcaster and saint here: https://www.littlewithgreatlove.com/st-veronica/
This podcast is sponsored by: Littlewithgreatlove.com + Redbird.love.
Special thanks to slacker, Jeff Sanchez, for voiceover work; and musician Rev. Dr. Martin Lohrmann.
