Gospel Reflections for November 1 2015
How are saints made?
The saints we celebrate today are heroes. But why do we have saints …and how does someone become one?
You can think about sainthood as a form of teaching. Sometimes the Church teaches using sermons and speeches, like Pope Francis did during his US visit. But the Church can also put forward actual experiences of people who lived out these teachings. You can learn about Jesus from a book, or from a saint’s life, whichever is easiest for you. Books teach with words, saints teach with their own behavior.
The Church is eager to make famous people who have shown great Christian behavior. So how does sainthood happen?
I had a chance to find out a few years ago when I was Pastor of St. Paschal Baylon Church in Thousand Oaks, CA. There was a parishioner there who had worked in the office of a famous priest who was being considered for sainthood. He had started an international prayer program that was very successful and was known to have excellent character. I was asked to interview our parishioner and so the Vatican sent me a document with two hundred questions to ask about the candidate.
I noticed a recurring pattern to the questions after just a few minutes. Frequently they returned to the same theme…
- How did this person react to opposition to his new program?
- When he received resistance from a local official, how did he respond?
- How did he react to those who were against his ideas?
I could see that the Church was interested in how this priest followed Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, when Our Lord taught that we are to “Love our enemies.” Those are the most amazing three words anywhere in the bible, and are the center of that famous Sermon. They are uniquely Christian, and occur in no other religious tradition anywhere in history.
If everything is going well, it takes no special effort to keep things moving along. The real mark of our character is how we react to opposition or even outright enemies. We always admire people who live a moral life, but we see them as saints when they do so despite opposition. What makes a saint a saint is how well they “Love their enemies.” True saints remain faithful to their mission and remain loving to everyone no matter what. That is a saint!
Understanding “Love your enemies” will be the topic of future articles here, but if you would like to see it in action now, look to the lives of all the saints.
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
Image: Public domain work of art.
Fr. Dave,
“Love your enemies” are three very powerful words that could solve many problems world wide. Everyone really needs to focus on this so much more, with all that’s going on here in the U.S. and across the globe. I know this is very hard to do at times, We need more education out there for both young and old to stay focused on this and for some an easier way to understand how to do it.
God Bless
Rick
ell said. I plan on writing a future article soon just on the power of those three words.
Dear Fr. Dave, Recently when I called on the Veterans at the Ventura Vets Home, the discussion turned to “Heaven”…a real physical place or is it a spiritual place? If we are cremated or lost at sea or such how do our bodies rise again. Can you address this subject for us. Warmly Carol Bohner.
Heaven, and Hell, are neither physical places, but states of being. The entire definition of Heaven is simply, “with God.” The entire definition of Hell is simply, “without God.” Since God is love, heaven is to be in a state of pure love, and Hell is the opposite.
The Resurrection of the body, a bedrock of ur faith, does not mean a resuscitation of our body at some specific or favored age. Our bodies are resurrected as a glorified body as Jesus was. Cremation is actually no different in its effect than burial in the ground. Both result in our turning to “dust” Cremation is just a faster process.
We believe that our soul will be reunited with the physical aspect that was ourselves, but not as a specific body of a specific age, such as when were younger. It simply means that the material aspect of our selves and the spiritual aspect, both created by God, will be reunited.
There is an interesting parallel in science. Einstein’s famous equation E=MC2 means that energy and matter are equivalent. That is what the “equals” of “=” sign means. Energy and matter are united in what is probably the most famous equation of all time, so far.
In RCIA (I am a witness), people are exposed to the lives of Saints. I think Protestants have some trouble accepting the value of Saints because they don’t understand how we can honor spiritual beings without worshiping them. Even though the Saints are not with us on earth, we can derive a lot of support from them by learning of their lives and how they lived them. And if we can picture ourselves with them in our struggles, similar to theirs, they become alive to us. This is not worship but rather brotherly admiration.
In “That Man is You” this morning we heard of Alexis Carrel, who was a “cradle Catholic”. He became an atheist as a famous medical doctor. He witnessed a miracle at Lourdes when a girl was cured from her fatal illness. But it was about 40 years after that when he saw the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world. He converted to Christianity in the Catholic Church.
I have come to believe that the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways. But I also believe that the Saints help us in spiritual ways, somewhat like the Holy Spirit. Sort of like Mary for Alexis Carrel.
Not so?
You are exactly correct in your insights. The way to understand the saints is that they pray to God on our behalf. That is why often use the terminology “The saints intercede on our behalf” Their actual biographies can be inspirational, and their intercession on our behalf can be miraculous.
Father Dave, What precious words, ” love one another as I have loved you!!” Father forgive them for they no not what they do”” Love your enemies!!”” An incredibly beautiful Faith of love!!! A most lovely woman in our modern day is Immaculee Ilibagiza a living saint of forgiveness and love!!! During the 1994 slaughter of 2 million Rwandans, Immaculee and 7 other woman lived in a Pastors bathroom for three months hiding from the Hutus who were killing the Rwandan people and eventually they killed Immaculee’s family!!!Immaculee and the other women survived !!! Immaculee prayed our precious Rosary during those three months and dwelt on the precious life of our Jesus!!! This gave her strength,love and courage to survive!!! After she escaped, she forgave the Tutsi that had taken her parents life!She lived Jesus’ love and forgiveness!! She now lives in the U.S. and gives talks about her beautiful family, our catholic faith of love and forgiveness!! A beautiful saint of LOVE!!!!Immacule is a model for us of living Jesus’ love in our present day!!!
Yes, Imaculee’s story is truly heroic. She came to our parish one time to meet with our students, and she spoke to an evening gathering of about 1,000 people. Truly inspirational!
I really got a lot out of your remarks about Saints. I had been thinking about this subject for quite a while before. We all have situations in our lives that we with were better (I know I do). Then I look at what is going on around the world and think my problems (?) are nothing compared to them. Christians young and old being killed for their faith. I think about the fact that if I was in their shoes I would like to think I would be that strong to not give in. WOW. I know in this country we must stand up for what we believe in. We have verbal persecution for what we believe and to some it can be really bad. I believe we have to stand firm in our beliefs and not break down to fear of man. However, I tend to compare it to the mid-east and what they are going through. Christian children and adults being slain for their faith. The questions I always have for myself is would I be that strong. I can only hope so.
Don’t worry about how you might respond to opposition, like those in the Middle East. We receive the grace we need only at the moment we need it, not before. You will be fine!
I love All Saints Day. It is one of my favorite holidays perhaps because it reminds us we are all spiritual beings called to our eternal home in Heaven. We are just sojourners in this mundane and temporal world. Today we remember and celebrate all those who have passed from this world into the next and pray that they rejoice in the beatific vision.
Yes, although we remember the saints a lot today, they are with us and praying for us every day! That is good news!
Your commentary on “Love our enemies” is a great way to live life
We so often become arrogant and hateful to those who oppose us.
Jesus says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for
those who persecute you” Luke 6:27. and again, “Father forgive them, for they know
not what they do”Luke 23
What a challenge this is for us
It is only through prayer and openness to the Spirit that we can “let go” and achieve
the freedom and happiness that the Lord so desires for us.
Yes, since “love your enemies” is such a huge command, we will need the help of the Holy Spirit to help us do it.