You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all. -St. Therese of Lisieux
A joke recently sent to me by our friend Dave Geisinger made me smile:
At a motivational seminar 3 men are asked to come up to the stage. They are all asked, “When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you? The first guy says, “I would like to hear them say that I was the great doctor of my time, and a great family man.” The second guy says, “I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher who made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow.” The last guy replies, “I would like to hear them say…… LOOK!!! HE’S MOVING!!!!!”
All jokes aside, it made me think, just what would I like people to say over me when I die. After some thought, I decided I would like to hear them say, “She was a true Christian.” Not perfect of course and not saint material (I know better and thank God for his forgiveness!) but that I certainly had my heart in it. How sad it would be if someone said, “You know she was a Christian.” And the other responded with, “No way!” or “You don’t say, I would never have guessed that.” I mean, if you could not tell if someone was a Christian by the way they talk or the way they acted or by doing the works of God our Father, then being a Christian was in name only and a bit meaningless. How sad to go through life pretending to be something you really are not then get to the gates of Heaven and be asked, “Who are you?”
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father.” (Matthew 7:21)
Which brings me to the subject of Saints and how much we Catholics love them. Men and women of faith are declared saints by the church through a process called Canonization. This process begins after a person deemed holy by the faithful dies and the church begins an inquiry into this person’s life looking for proof of this person’s exceptional virtue or martyrdom. If this person passes all the scrutiny of the local bishop and then the panel of Cardinals for the Congregation for the Cause of Saints, the pope may declare them venerable. Then, except in the case of martyrs, there must be evidence of at least one miracle showing this person is in heaven and can intercede for those of us on earth who call upon them.
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)
For Catholics, the saints are our heroes; the ones who really lived and sometimes died for their faith. The ones we saw run the good race to the very end in extraordinary form. They are our older brothers and sisters. The ones who lived so well for Jesus that their prayers moved the hand of God pushing away mountains of sickness, bringing light to those who lived in darkness, and hope for those who lived in despair. They left the world a better place because they found the pearl of immense price and never stopped seeking possession of it. Saints are the ones we look up to and when we read about their lives, it makes us want to live better for Christ. We understand that they were human. We would never say that they were God. Just as I might ask a friend to pray for me does not take away from Christ his being my mediator with the Father, I am able to ask the saints to pray for me since they may approach the throne of God in a way no one in the land of the living may.
“No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the countless angles in festal gathering and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God, the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect;” (Hebrews 12:22-23)
I know a lot of non-Catholics will say that as believers we are all saints spelled with a small s. This is true, yet for Catholics there are some who rise above and beyond the levels of the small s. They who are apart from the body are very much alive in the Christ for whom they loved. For if they were not truly alive in Christ then our faith has lost its meaning. Did not Christ not only rise from the dead but also walked the earth and ate and drank? Did Christ not also speak with Moses and Elijah who had been dead for many centuries? (Matthew 17:3) These concepts are not beyond the power of the Most High. These beliefs expand our vision of life and death beyond the known universe.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4).
Of course I have my favorites. It’s hard not to. And I have had the good fortune to see two saints in person, St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Calcutta. Neither of them knew me when they walked the face of the earth, but both know and love me now and will even more completely love me when I am with them in heaven. To think that I cannot right now go to them in faith and ask them to pray for me is unthinkable.
“And when he had taken it, [the scroll] the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding the golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.” (Revelation 5:8)
And there is no end to the countless, selfless lives of the ones we call Saints. Their stories abound almost beyond our imagination. Stories of St Theresa of Lisieux who demonstrated sainthood by her “little way of spiritual childhood,” focusing not on doing great deeds but doing even the little things with great love. Or the life of St. Padre Pio who bore on his body the marks of the crucifixion as well as having many other spiritual gifts. Or of the heroic St. Maximillian Kolbe who stood before the Nazi Death Camp guards and offered his life for that of man who had six children. The incredible story of St Dennis, Bishop of Paris in the third Century, who was beheaded and yet picked up his head and walked six miles preaching the sermon of forgiveness and repentance. What is even more amazing is that there are 15 other cephalophoric Saints, (saints known to have survived for a short time after beheading). Or the hundreds of saints whose bodies have never decayed such as St Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuit order and missionary to Asia in the 1500’s. He succumbed to illness on Shangchuan Island and was buried packed in lime to hasten decomposition so his bones could be transported back to Genoa, Italy at a later time. Despite their best effort, when the coffin was unearthed, the body remained perfectly preserved. In Dec 1974, Newsweek described the body of the saint as being ‘surprisingly well preserved.”
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)
Whether we be in the land of the living or alive in Christ in his heavenly kingdom, we are all one in the body of Christ as a true communion of saints. Let’s march on together!
“For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will you allow your faithful one to see decay.” (Psalm 16:10)
Cruz, Joan Carroll The Incorruptibles. Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. Rockford, IL. 1977
Catholic in Their Midst 