Called to be Saints

Sainthood May Sound Crazy

(An excellent post by Richard Clark over at Corpus Christi Watershed)

WE ARE ALL CALLED TO SAINTHOOD. This may sound crazy, but I am more and more convinced it is true. We could be saints. Do be afraid of it! While it is possible that our fear may hinder us more than our weakness, but both will do nicely! Yet, God’s infinite mercy desires sainthood for us. God prods us gently and not so gently in that direction.

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Flannery O’Connor succinctly stated, “They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.” Have faith our cross guides us toward sharing eternal life with God.

 

Read the rest over there, along with a recording of Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus, a personal favorite!

St Monica

August 27 – Memorial of St Monica

St Monica (d. 387), prayed for 30 years for the conversion of her pagan husband, and with the help and guidance of St. Ambrose, won the conversion of her son, St. Augustine.

St. Monica is the patroness of mothers. She is an excellent role model, not only to us mothers, but to all of the importance of prayer. In the modern world, we need modern-day saints, praying for the conversion of those who have lost faith. The prayer of a mother is a powerful prayer.

St. Monica, pray for us!

St. Alexis – July 17

Saint Alexius or Alexis of Rome or Alexis of Edessa was an Eastern saint whose veneration was later transplanted to Rome. The relocation of the cult to Rome was facilitated by the belief that the saint was a native of Rome and had died there. This Roman connection stemmed from an earlier Syriac legend which recounted that during the episcopate of Bishop Rabbula (412-435) a “Man of God” who lived in Edessa, Mesopotamia as a beggar, and who shared the alms he received with other poor people, was found to be a native of Rome after his death.

While the commemoration was removed from the Roman Calendar in 1969, St Alexius is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology under 17 July in the following terms: “At Rome, in a church on the Aventine Hill, a man of God is celebrated under the name of Alexius, who, as reported by tradition, abandoned his wealthy home, for the sake of becoming poor and to beg for alms unrecognized.” (Credit to the Catholic Encyclopedia)

Saints

In my last entry, we looked at what the Catechism teaches about the Lord’s Day: Sunday is the most important day of the week, the celebration of the Christ’s Paschal mystery.  The liturgical year is structured in such a way that throughout the Sundays and Solemnities of the year, the entire mystery of Christ is unfolded for us.  Another way of exploring the Paschal mystery of Christ throughout the year is through the “Sanctoral cycle,” that is, the memorials of the lives of the Saints.  The Catechism (no. 1173) teaches us:

“When the Church keeps the memorials of martyrs and other saints during the annual cycle, she proclaims the Paschal mystery in those ‘who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ.  She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she begs for God’s favors.’”

I may have mentioned here before, and we should remember, that as Catholics, we do not “worship” or “adore” the saints.  Worship is reserved for, and due to, Almighty God alone.  We do, however, venerate the saints.  This means that we acknowledge our respect for this particular person, and that we hold them as an example of how to live the Christian life. Saints are people that we know are in heaven.  Some people, and some other Christian groups, may say that honoring a saint, or even a statue of a saint, is worshipping a false idol.  This is not what we are doing.  We are not making that person into a god, but we are saying that they honored God by their life, and we wish to follow their example.  By contemplating an image or praying in front of a statue, we are asking for help in leading good Christian lives, just as that person lived.  Pre-eminent among the saints is our Blessed Mother, Mary, a perfect example of how to answer God’s call to holiness.

When we ask a Saint for their intercession, we are asking, believing that they are in heaven, for them to be an advocate for us to Christ.  In the Litany of Saints, we sing the name of a Saint followed by “pray for us.”  This means “pray to God for us.”  It’s like having a friend go whisper in His hear, because you know this friend is in “good-standing”, so to speak. In the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen), one of the many awesome titles we give to Mary is “most gracious Advocate.”  There’s nothing wrong with praying to Jesus, and also asking His mother to go ask Him for help, too.  After all…what happened at the Wedding at Cana?

Is there a particular saint that you ask for intercession on your behalf?  Who do you wish to emulate?  Who is your patron saint?

“Mass is Boring”

Exactly.