Saints of God
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be opened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:18
Saints are very important to the people of the Catholic Church. I know this because I was raised Catholic. In my teen years I found the whole thing quite amusing and as I grew to truly know Jesus I found it a little sad. Now I have to admit I find it all interesting. No, I don’t believe a certain saint can bring a certain result but I bet they did while they were alive. They got those credentials from somewhere.
Think about it, when we have a specific prayer request we think of a person we know who was healed or helped through something similar. We wonder who prayed for them and we want the same person praying for us. When my oldest son Paul was born and experienced complications a woman named Melissa prayed for him. Her daughter had just been healed of an inoperable brain tumor. I believed that having been that close to the healing power of God she would be able to share it. I don’t know if it was her or any one of the dozens of other people praying for him but Paul was and is just fine.
So maybe Anthony said to the person who lost their keys, “oh I’ll pray for you” keys found, word passed, request repeated, reputation established. It makes sense doesn’t it? Of course my personal favorite as a child was St. Blaise. Every February 3rd, the feast day of St. Blaise, a priest would come in our classrooms and bless our throats with candles. Every Spring I would have tonsillitis…. And yet Blaise is the one I remember so fondly. I surely didn’t help his rep. What of St. Jude, the saint of hopeless cases? I see plenty of hopeless cases around me but then without Jesus we are all hopeless.
You have to be careful too because so many saints have the same first name. There are several Elizabeth’s and their causes are varied as are the Francis’s, John’s etc. It really is fascinating to study them but how seriously can we take it? I absolutely do not mean to offend anyone. Believe me when something seems irretrievably lost I remember Anthony. I just think we ought to think about where and why they received their notoriety. None of them would want to be seen as superior to Jesus. Jesus is our true intercessor.
Studying the saints is very enlightening not to mention humbling but they, like us, lived to glorify God. I believe they would be the last people to want credit for anything. I would love to hear their heavenly conversation.
“So, Jude, hopeless cases? How did that happen?” Of can you imagine poor Patrick? “Okay snakes I get but beer? Seriously is that what you had in mind?” We distort who those dear people truly were and who they still are in Christ. Instead of revering or reviling them we need to emulate their behavior. Each one, regardless of their specific claim to fame, was completely devoted to God and that is what absolutely makes them special.
We sing a hymn at Baptisms called “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” it includes the words “the saints of God are just folks like me and I want to be one too.” The good news is that we can be one too. We can live and grow in Christ and one day get to know those amazing people that we call Saint __________.
Saints are very important to the people of the Catholic Church. I know this because I was raised Catholic. In my teen years I found the whole thing quite amusing and as I grew to truly know Jesus I found it a little sad. Now I have to admit I find it all interesting. No, I don’t believe a certain saint can bring a certain result but I bet they did while they were alive. They got those credentials from somewhere.
Think about it, when we have a specific prayer request we think of a person we know who was healed or helped through something similar. We wonder who prayed for them and we want the same person praying for us. When my oldest son Paul was born and experienced complications a woman named Melissa prayed for him. Her daughter had just been healed of an inoperable brain tumor. I believed that having been that close to the healing power of God she would be able to share it. I don’t know if it was her or any one of the dozens of other people praying for him but Paul was and is just fine.
So maybe Anthony said to the person who lost their keys, “oh I’ll pray for you” keys found, word passed, request repeated, reputation established. It makes sense doesn’t it? Of course my personal favorite as a child was St. Blaise. Every February 3rd, the feast day of St. Blaise, a priest would come in our classrooms and bless our throats with candles. Every Spring I would have tonsillitis…. And yet Blaise is the one I remember so fondly. I surely didn’t help his rep. What of St. Jude, the saint of hopeless cases? I see plenty of hopeless cases around me but then without Jesus we are all hopeless.
You have to be careful too because so many saints have the same first name. There are several Elizabeth’s and their causes are varied as are the Francis’s, John’s etc. It really is fascinating to study them but how seriously can we take it? I absolutely do not mean to offend anyone. Believe me when something seems irretrievably lost I remember Anthony. I just think we ought to think about where and why they received their notoriety. None of them would want to be seen as superior to Jesus. Jesus is our true intercessor.
Studying the saints is very enlightening not to mention humbling but they, like us, lived to glorify God. I believe they would be the last people to want credit for anything. I would love to hear their heavenly conversation.
“So, Jude, hopeless cases? How did that happen?” Of can you imagine poor Patrick? “Okay snakes I get but beer? Seriously is that what you had in mind?” We distort who those dear people truly were and who they still are in Christ. Instead of revering or reviling them we need to emulate their behavior. Each one, regardless of their specific claim to fame, was completely devoted to God and that is what absolutely makes them special.
We sing a hymn at Baptisms called “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” it includes the words “the saints of God are just folks like me and I want to be one too.” The good news is that we can be one too. We can live and grow in Christ and one day get to know those amazing people that we call Saint __________.
Comments
Post a Comment