A SMALL NEAT THING ABOUT BEING CATHOLIC

St. Mina is an early saint from
Egypt with a Greek name

The calendar of saints.  Read on, Denis and George, Anna and Christopher, Antonio and Daniel, Francis and John and get this, would you believe, Mina?  Mina was my mother's nickname, short for Mélina.  Of course, until I grew up and got exposed to international realities, both temporal and spiritual,  I didn't know Saint Mina.  When I found out that Mina is a man, now, that brought a smile to my face.  I also have found out from my Coptic Orthodox friends that Melina is also a man's name in Greek.  By the way, it means, "Black one."
This is not really a new idea for me.  I have had it since I was in the very first stages of listening to my grandfather and grand mother.  They were very careful to name their children after saints. 
All of this is just to make the point that we Catholics who believe in the Communion of Saints know what it is to look at the calendar with the saint's name written for every day and have the light go on and say, "oh wow, St. Egedius day!  I better give ol' Eddie a call."  See how it works?  We're all related.  It's a boost for us to pray for the person whom we remember because of the calendar reference.  Even my aunt Pearl would always remind us that "Pearl" is the English word for "Margaret".  We Catholics are lucky because we have a deep pool of names.  We have a deep reverence for the Hebrew Patriarchs and Prophets as well as for the Saints of the Orthodox Churches.  We have no problem with Enoch, Samuel, Zachariah, Chrysostom, Felicity or any number of saints names.  It's really neat, and it's all free.  So I just thought I would give you another reason to be happy for the little things in life.  Also reminding you to stay alert for January 25.