Apr 09th - Casilda of Toledo

Today's saint is a convert. But make no mistake, this is not about we win and you loose, but how God works in our lives to bring us to Him.
Whenever I teach the after-Easter RCIA class, I always like to do a meditation on The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) to discuss the tough road ahead for those entering the Church.
Conversion is a difficult thing - especially if you do not have the support of family and friends; it is for that reason that we must take refuge in Christ and his Body, especially in the Eucharist. Therein lies our support. The world around us can make the road difficult, even for those of us who are not converts, but especially for them.
Casilda was Muslim, the daughter of the king of Toledo, Spain. She saw the ravages of war and the cruelty around her and did not trust those closest to her to take care of her or support her in her actions based in the love she felt for her fellow humans regardless of race or religion. This is the seed of Faith which exists in each of us as a gift from God and must be nurtured into full bloom.
And that, perhaps, that is the problem. In my experience people often convert because of the example of those around them - from both good and bad examples. They leave one group for another because of the examples of both. Casilda had Faith. Fortunately for us, she found Jesus in us and gave her life over to him as an example to us all.
Casilda pray for us, especially our Candidates and Catechumens in their time of scrutiny and new lives in Christ.

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Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol of Faith (or Creed). And when you have received it, write it in your heart, say it daily to yourselves: before you sleep, before you go out, arm yourself with your Creed. The Creed is not written to be read; rehearse it lest idle forgetfulness obliterate what has been carefully delivered to you; let your memory be your record of what you are about to hear, that are you to believe, what you shall have believed, and that you are about to give back with your voice. For the Apostle says, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." For this is the Creed which you are to rehearse and to repeat in answer. These words which you have heard are scattered throughout Divine Scripture but are gathered and reduced into one, that the memory of the simple in Faith might not be distressed and so that every person may be able to say, able to hold, what he believes. For until now you have merely heard that God is Almighty. You begin to have him for your Father, when you have been born by the Church as your Mother.
 
–  From A Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed, St. Augustine