Dear
St. Othmar, your love for Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd made you a
good shepherd for your brothers and God's people. Yet because of your
goodness and justice, you were unjustly imprisoned. Pray for me, who am so helpless and alone. Intercede
with God for me that He bring visible and speedy help to those in
danger of unjust imprisonment. Come to my assistance in this great need
that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my
necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly -
(make your request here)
-
and that I may praise God with you and all the saints forever. I
promise, O Blessed St. Othmar, to be ever mindful of this great favor
granted me by God and to always honor you as my special and powerful
patron. Amen
Day 1
Dear
St. Othmar, your love for Jesus Christ gave you the resolve to take
on the responsibility of abbot over the cell of St. Gall. This
community was not organized into a monastery, but you chose to form
it into one for the better spiritual perfection of your new spiritual
sons. You did not have to take on this additional care for souls,
especially since these souls were already living a religious life.
But you wanted the best for them and to produce the best for God. Be
a shepherd and father also to me, who am in need of the love and
guidance of Christ my Savior. Do not pass over my poor, fearful
soul, but take me under your fatherly robes and care for me when I am
forsaken by the world and even at times by family and friends.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 2
Blessed
St. Othmar, you were never afraid of the judgments of your fellow men
as long as you were pleasing to God and useful to souls. You restored
the Rule of St. Columban at your monastery despite the weakness of those
contented by the corrupted practice. When that was not enough to bring
harmony among your spiritual sons, you did not hesitate to replace the
founding rule with the Rule of St. Benedict despite the expected
opposition among the monks. Your courage aided the spiritually of your
monastery and prepared you for the greater trial to come. Grant that I
may imitate your courage and your single-hearted focus on God's glory,
so that I might also accept every unjust criticism, trial, judgment, or
action with complete resignation to the will of God.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 3
Good
St. Othmar, your love modeled the love of Our Holy Savior especially in
your care for the sick and for children. During your time at St. Gall,
you no only built a monastery and reformed the monks, but you also
built a school, a hospital, an almshouse, and the first leprosarium in Switzerland.
"Whatsoever you do to one of these least brethren of Mine," says the
Lord, "you do to Me." He further added, "Let the little children come
to Me." You taught your monks to bring this kind of goodness and love
into the world no matter the cost in time, labor, resources, or mental
taxation. You taught them that to imitate the Good Master is worth any
cost. Pray for me, St. Othmar, that I may never regret any good that I
have done in the name of Christ, even if it should cost me dearly in
this world. Teach me to look for a reward for my labors not in this
life, but in the next.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 4
Diligent
St. Othmar, when Karlmann, the brother of King Pepin, offered you the
opportunity to request royal support for your monastery, you took the
long and difficult task of making this request upon yourself. Your zeal
for the Lord's Vineyard made you ready to take every difficulty upon
yourself that could help your children grow in wisdom and grace. Your
guilelessness and trust came from your long association with Goodness
and Truth Himself, Jesus Christ. Although this trust would be used
against you by the world, you remained a living icon of what it means to
imitate Christ, to be the salt of the earth, and to let your light
shine before men. Counsel me, O holy abbot, who have been likewise
sorely betrayed by the injustice, selfishness, lies, and treachery of
the world. Help me to remain steadfast in my trust in God. Help me to
believe that it is still possible to love my neighbor as myself, and
even to love and pray for my enemy. May I still be willing to bear
every hardship to improve the spiritual and temporal conditions of those
entrusted to my care.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 5
Just
and upright St. Othmar, after your long journey to the king and a
favorable reception, the worldly Count Warin and Count Ruodhard used
their power and their guile to try and steal some property from the
Monastery of St. Gall. Despite their power and their threats, you
refused to allow injustice to prevail and the work of the Lord to be
hindered. You openly and fearlessly spoke against them and refused to
bow to their demands. Again, your courage and boldness came from your
faith in God as your providential Defender and your just Judge. Pray
for me that I might also have the courage in every trial to uphold
justice and right despite the threats and temptations of the world, no
matter the cost to myself. May I never regret defending the sanctity of
God by upholding the just ordering of society.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 6
Faithful
St. Othmar, because you fought for justice for your monastery and
defied the worldly counts, they waylaid you on your journey home and
made you their prisoner. They made false accusations concerning you to
cover their crime and their selfish motives. How frustrated, powerless,
and discouraged you must have felt at times, trapped in the dungeon of
Bodmann Castle. Yet you found true the exhortation of St. Paul, "When I
am weak, it is then that I am strong" because Christ Jesus was with
you. Beg God for me, I pray, that I might have the same grace and
strength to face lies, slander, violence, and imprisonment. Help me to
open my heart to the same peace and confidence that you experienced
through your faith in Our Redeemer. He is the Light in every darkness,
and though I walk in the darkness of the valley of death, I shall fear
no evil in Him.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 7
Long-suffering
and patient St. Othmar, after a couple of months the wicked counts
removed you to the island of Werd in the Rhine to try to discourage you
even more and tempt you into giving in to their demands. Here you were
even more isolated and any chance of rescue even more hopeless. Yet you
did not give in to their unjust demands. How lonely and desolate you
must have felt at times. But God was your rock and your shelter, and
you rejoiced to share in the suffering of Christ your Lord, knowing that
He was with you, giving you your daily bread and the strength to
persevere. Be with me, my friend and father, who likewise face
imprisonment and am already often a captive to my fear. Be with me in
prison when I face all the temptations of the Devil and my enemies to
worthlessness, despair, and sin. Teach me to remember that Jesus is
with me and in me as long as I keep my heart pure and faithful, and that
His love and mercy abide forever. In Him, I can do all things. May He
be my only hope and consolation when the world fails me.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 8
Happy
St. Othmar, after six months of imprisonment and persecution you died a
holy death still in the clutches of your captors. What joy you must
have experienced to leave this corrupt and sinful world behind. How
peacefully you must have faced death knowing that you upheld justice and
truth to the end. Although your captors were victorious over you for a
short time on earth, the story of your virtue and leadership soon
defeated their plans even here, to say nothing of the verdict of Eternal
Justice. Taken into Heaven, you prayed for the conversion of your
enemies and to progress of your spiritual children at St. Gall. You
became a greater power for good by your death even than you had been in
your life. Intercede with Almighty God for me that I might persevere to
the end in my faith and righteousness. Help me to remember that it is
always darkest just before the dawn--the dawn of the Sun of Justice,
Christ Jesus Our Lord.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
Day 9
Dear
St. Othmar, just as God granted you an inexhaustible spring of virtue
and grace to face the trials of your life, He also honored you in the
eyes of the Christian faithful with wondrous miracles. During your
life, the barrel from which you distributed food and alms to the poor
was sometimes seen to contain more than naturally possible. It became
as bottomless as your generosity. After your death, devout men rowed to
the island of Werd to recover your body and give it Christian burial.
Not only was your body incorrupt, but as they rowed back with their holy
burden in the hot sun, their barrel of wine never grew empty. These
barrels have become the symbol of your generosity, which is a reflection
of God's generosity in Christ. Give to me of those bottomless graces
that God has entrusted to you. May I overflow as fully with virtue,
love of God, and good humor as you did during your earthly life. May I
learn from you to hope in Christ and imitate Him in all things, no
matter my situation in life.
St. Othmar, pray for those imprisoned. St. Othmar, pray for me.
