By Paul Ashton, Psy.D., D.Min.
Consultant to the VIRTUS® Programs
Almighty Father, today we keep the festival of your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother. Around your throne the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing your praise forever. Their glory fills us with joy, and their communion with us in your Church gives us inspiration and strength as we hasten on our pilgrimage of faith, eager to meet them. With their great company we praise your glory. Amen.
—Based on the Preface for All Saints Day
The Saints are gifts who remind us of God’s tremendous love. Our Catholic history and tradition is richly blessed with women and men who have bravely and courageously lived their Catholic faith in ways that have encouraged, inspired, and transformed the lives of many people. The Saints have lived the beatitudes and followed Christ’s mandate to attend to those among us who have the greatest need.
There are saints in our tradition who have walked among us unknown, who were never recognized as saints, and yet, achieving the same goodness as those who have been raised to the altar. The simplicity of their lives seems to be the hallmark of men and women who are “manna personalities.” They feed all who come into their presence spiritually and materially. The Church needs saints in the same way that each of us needs relationships with others. It is only through these relationships that we are able to see the tremendous love that God has for us, recognize our inherent goodness, and move more freely through the joys and sorrows of our lives.
“By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church’s history. Indeed, holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal.” [CCC 828] Sharing our burdens and unloading our heavy hearts lightens them, makes them more bearable, and allows us to see that we are not alone. God is ever present through the persons, places, and things—the gifts—that he sends our way each day.
As members of the communion of saints, we share in the good works of all members of the faithful. We all benefit from the good done by others. Although it is sometimes difficult to see and appreciate, especially when we are going through challenging times, goodness is all around us, though the reach may be far.
Looking to the small to appreciate the big is a way for each of us to get through difficult times. The 12-Step communities know the beneficial practice of taking each day one day at a time. Those in physical pain and suffering from emotional distress and anxiety know that minute-to-minute, moment to moment, is often the only way to cope.
The saints who have gone before us extend acts of kindness to God in a mighty way, by interceding for us in our time of need. “The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were ‘put in charge of many things.’ Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.” [CCC 2683]
Calling upon the saints to pray for us is a gift that we should avail ourselves to often. As members of the communion of saints, we benefit from the goodness of every creature God created. We are never alone on our journey, no matter how cold the world appears to us. “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church, and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always attentive to our prayers” [Pope Paul VI, CCC 962]
That is what saints do—unite us and bring us closer to our Creator and urge us forward through difficult times.
Saints are all around us, everyday within our reach, performing small deeds with large hearts that result in major outcomes. Watch closely for the small; the big is soon to follow.