By Susan Cannon
November 23, 2011
"The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history." -- John Paul II
Here between All Saints Day and Thanksgiving, I am mindful of all I owe to the saints, who, through the course of my childhood, I came to know, to revere, and, at times of awakened fervor, to try to imitate.
In our home, our patron saints were part of the family. With Mary, Margaret, Francis, James, Patrick and Susanna, we felt a special connection, making a practice of praying for their holy guidance, influence, protection and intercession. This last, the Catechism teaches, is the saints' "most exalted service in God's plan." As we came to appreciate Christ's Mystical Body, a whole host of saintly ancestry was embraced.
We were encouraged by the saints' extraordinary virtues and heroic acts. Stories of martyrs, missionaries, scholars and mystics lighted the imagination, bolstered, and inspired us. Here were mere mortals who because of their great love for Jesus and deep faith in His Salvation, could accomplish super-human things, showing astounding courage, insight, charity, submission, self-sacrifice, humility, compassion, perseverance, vision, and devotion.
The Anglican Service Book has a beautiful service of Thanksgiving for the birth of a child. We pray for the parents as they "seek to bring this child to love all that is true and noble, just and pure, lovable and gracious, excellent and admirable, following the example of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." What better aid to teach these lessons than the lives of the saints who so richly manifest them?
At the Easter Vigil we sing the solemn and soaring Litany of the Saints. Invoking their prayers of intercession, our sense of time can touch upon eternity. With a profound sense of wonder and gratitude, we see ourselves as belonging to the whole Church, to this procession of saints, gone before us, a part of the same Body.
Some recommended readings: Pope Benedict's The Fathers (Volume I & Volume 2) as well as his Holy Women; Butler's Lives of the Saints (Modernized Edition); and Joan Windham's charming Sixty Saints for Boys and Sixty Saints for Girls.
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