The Feast of St. John Chrysostom

This particular saint, born around the year 344, was a tremendous speaker. In fact, his name means "golden-mouthed." He was such a source of truth and inspiration and often times admonition that he made a wonderful bishop of Constantinople, no less. He fed the poor, took care of orphans, and preached sometimes twice a day. The empress of his time, who was chastised by Chrysostom, had him exiled and he suffered greatly. At the end of his time on earth, he yelled out, "Glory be to God." Upon his death, a terrible hailstorm fell upon his city. Four days later, the empress died. Her son honored the body of St. John to show remorse for how his mother had treated this great man.

We wanted to get to know this saint and remember that he was "golden-mouthed". So, Prez's constant pestering to make caramel apples gave me the idea for this special snack.
We started with some golden delicious apples, at least that was the thought. These gala apples were so much cheaper and better looking that we went with them.
One package of Caramel Apple wrap! WOW. So much easier than unwrapping a bazillion caramels and melting them on the stove.
Wrapping the apple.
Or at least trying to wrap the apple.
Isn't that a terrific golden color?
Simply delicious. Don't you just desire fall to be here? I know this has gotten me in the mood for the State Fair.

We also talked about how to have golden mouths ourselves. The Bible is bulging with Scripture about guarding your mouth and we decided that we liked this one.

O Lord set a watch before my mouth, a guard at the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3

Well, that's one way to guard your mouth, although it was a very short moment of silence.
This is hopefully not the only way to have a golden mouth, but it sure was a sweet try.

O Lord, we know that you hate a lying tongue, a false witness, and he who sows discord among brothers, intercede for us, St. John, as we guard our words and try to make our speech pleasing to you, Jesus. Give us the courage to speak truth, but the love as well. Amen.