Today we remember Brigitta a Swedish mystic. She was born to a noble family in 1304 and married at age 13. She and her husband had eight children. From the time she was a young girl she had visions. When her husband died in 1344 she made a radical change in her life becoming a Third Order Franciscan and eventually beginning her own religious order commonly known today as the Brigittines. Some 700 visions of Brigitta are recorded, many of them focusing on the life of Christ especially the passion.

Church authorities (all men) were often puzzled by what to do with gifted religious women. They were prohibited from attending universities, they could not preach publically or hold church offices, and they were absolutely forbidden to teach men. What the authorities couldn’t control was women like Brigitta who had visions. God has a way of getting around the human restrictions people try to put on people. I think that remain true today.

One of my great frustration as a pastor was the amount of time and energy spent trying to find volunteers to do the jobs a church needs to keep running while at the same time failing to find ways for people to use the gifts God had given people. I’m not sure I could have rightly used a person like Brigitta.

Here’s a part of one of Brigitta’s prayers: “O Lord, make haste and illumine the night. Say to my soul that nothing happens without You permitting it, and that nothing of what You permit is without comfort.”

Read Joel 2:28 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne