I have a question. I have heard that saintly people are said to have a certain literal physical ‘glow’ around their body. This is supposed to be a sign that they are holy.
If one doesn’t have a “glow”, does that mean they are not in a state of grace?
Decades ago (1989 to be precise) when I was in a monastery trying my vocation (I didn’t have one), I received the extraordinary blessing to be at supper with the community and several guests, including St Teresa of Calcutta. She was visiting Denver, and then-Archbishop Stafford arranged for her and the two Sisters accompanying her to join us for supper in our enclosure (constitutional, not papal).
Anywho, being just a novice at the time, I didn’t get any one-on-one time with her, but I was there with the rest of the community to greet her when she and her Sisters got out of the van, and then walk with them into our make-shift refectory (the chapel was undergoing renovation, so the actual refectory was being used as our chapel at the time). She was a tiny little woman, short and slight of build. She was old. She was tired. And at dinner, when asked questions, she only spoke of Our Lord and His work through the Sisters. She was humble.
After supper, we made our way to the teeny tiny refectory-turned-chapel to pray Compline. By this point our 40 retreat guests had gotten word that Mother Teresa was in the monastery, and they crammed themselves into the refectory, and out into the hallway, and even outside the windows to see Mother Teresa and pray with her and with us. It was actually kind of humorous and sweet.
The nuns have assigned seats in the chapel, even in a refectory-turned-chapel, and being just a novice, my chair was behind the older nuns and our honored guests (Missionaries of Charity, the Archbishop, our chaplain). I ended up standing right behind St Teresa as we prayed Compline.
Because we were seated in chairs instead of our usual choir stalls, when we sat down to chant the Psalm, I could see the Saint’s sandaled feet over the top of my prayer book. I remember thinking how worn they looked – dry and cracked heels, just an old lady’s feet – and how much good they’d done in her lifetime, carrying the love of God to so many souls.
She had a beautiful spirit. Although it was clear she was exhausted, she quietly and passionately talked about the work she and the Sisters had done. She graciously met all who approached her. And being in her presence for that one evening is a blessing from God.
But she didn’t glow. Not at all. There was no light emanating from her tiny old frame.
In that, she emulated Our Lord Himself, about whom scripture says: “He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him.” (Isaiah 53:2)
Some Saints, in some situations, may be given the extraordinary grace of exhibiting some outward sign. But those instances are so rare that they are spoken of purely as the exception to the rule. Most Saints never showed any such manifestations of their holiness in their lifetimes.
