The bigger the step outside, the bigger the effect. A great example.Look at Mother Teresa. She left a religioius order and took on the dress of a Hindu woman living on the streets of Calcutta. Talk about stepping outside the box. LOL
JR
I couldnāt resist.I agree with you completely!it seems like God has led me to specific Saints, saintly writers, and saintly people who have affected me in the specific way that i could relate to in my part of the world. i know it was no coincidence because God planned it all.
it would probably take me a while to write it all down, so iāll just say it was some of the more popular Saints that got me on my way. a great resource which i overlooked for so long was the book,** The Lives of the Saints**. eventually youāll find one that speaks to you. or you can try some of the indexes of Saints
catholic-forum.com/saints/patron02.htm
catholic.org/saints/
saints.sqpn.com/indexsnt.htm
in regards to the topic, i think there is a Saint in every corner of the world living Godās Word. therefore the possibilities are limitless, and one of them that is called is you who is reading this!
Such an excellent point, chewchoo. Thanks for making it. It does feel like ātough timesā and āimpossibleā when your life turns a new corner and itās clearly related to Godās will for you. That Catherine of Siena is a good example of that had escaped my notice!
He also made some massive mistakes(adultery and murder)ā¦repented and became a saint nonethless as did many of our penitent saints, make initial mistakes and took a wrong path I mean, not necessarily either adultery and/or murder.
BarbQuoting Lapell
He also made some massive mistakes(adultery and murder)ā¦repented and became a saint nonethless as did many of our penitent saints, make initial mistakes and took a wrong path I mean, not necessarily either adultery and/or murder.
Also there is that beautiful prayer in The Mass āwhose Faith is known only to Youāā¦ and the many unsung saints past and present and to come.
It is absolutely never too late to repent and take up that call addressed to us all without exemption no matter our spiritual state, to become saints and Godās Grace will be with us to become soā¦āaddressed to us allā as another poster pointed out.
Blessings - Barb
Catherine of Sienna is one of my favorite saints. What an inspiration for todayās woman. She was a paragon of humility, but not meek as we think of meek. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon and when she died she was endeavoring to heal the Great Western Schism. She had one of the brightest minds that weāve seen in our Church & her letters & her ādialogā are still studied by scholars today.DOCTOR CATHERINE OF SIENA
She did not deny her body, mind or emotions. True austerity as Catherine practiced and taught embraced humanity, including her own. More importantly, it embraces the humanity of Christ, the perfect man. Catherine contemplated how prayed, taught, cared for sinners and the helpless. She devoted her life to imitate him. She shared her faith with those who came to her for guidance and she took an active role in the events of the world. She cared for the world. She prayed for the world and she spoke her mind on the important issues of society in her day, much as we should do today.
Catherine condemned political abuse, especially the neglect of the poor.
Catherine was keenly aware that the Church must never back down before the immorality of the State. However, she did not promote conflict and confrontation either. Instead, she persuaded popes and bishops to claim their rights as citizens to live as Christ had lived. All too often many of us detach ourselves from our civic duties under the false claim that we do not like politics. But Catherine realized that politics were not on the line, morality and the Christian life were on the line.
Catherine attempted to slay the disease in her soul, sin. She did not try to be a saint. She tried to live as Christ lived. Sanctity would flow from the grace of Christ, but it depended on the choices that she made. Along with teaching and sharing the faith, acting as a committed Christian lay woman in of her time, she adopted an intense life of prayer, spending long periods in silence and solitude with the Lord. She needed some structure. She adopted the life of St. Dominic and became a Secular Dominican. She never became a sister or nun. She followed Dominicās simple method of teaching the Gospel to others, with great humility, using the power of persuasion and of charity toward the poor.
Catherine consecrated her virginity to Christ. This does not mean that one has to be a virgin to consecrate oneself to Christ. What is meant is that Christ became her spouse. Like any espousal between two people there is a conscious effort to get to know the beloved and to understand his or her actions and words. It is also important to understand the behavior of the beloved. Catherine put aside anything and everything that interfered with her understanding of and attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. Single people, divorced, widowed and married people can all live such a consecration. It is a matter of understanding Christ, spending enough time in his presence in prayer, before the Blessed Sacrament, oneās car, oneās room or wherever one finds the opportunity to reflect on Christās human behavior.
After three years of such a life of prayer and charity Catherine experienced what hagiographers have tried to represent as her mystical marriage. Here the mystical marriage consists in a vision in which Christ tells the soul that he talks it for his bride, there is literally a wedding ceremony with Mary, other saints and the angels present. This festivity is the accompaniment and symbol of purely spiritual grace or sanctifying grace. It is not something that we can do for ourselves or should even ask for. It is a special gift that God grants to special souls who know him intimately through conversational prayer, by sitting silently in his presence, through the practice of charity, by living their vocation responsibly (wife, mother, father, husband, teacher, laborer or whatever oneās place is in the world).
Catherine is a living example of what God can do for the soul when the soul focuses on living a life of grace by cooperating with grace. The soul must also recognize that every good that it accomplishes is through the grace of God and accept it with gratitude, rather than false humility. The soul never forgets that it is sinful, because saints do sin. The difference between a saint and the rest of the population around them is the personās ability to recognize their sinfulness, to accept Godās forgiveness, and to rejoice in the fact that God is Mercy.
In Catherineās writings we read that as the soul realizes its sinfulness and its ability to heal through the gift of reconciliation, the Eucharist and other sacraments, there is an augmentation of charity and familiarity with God. She states that one becomes much more comfortable with the idea that God will take care of oneās soul. One has to get to know Christ, imitate Christ, love Christ in himself and in others.
She also describes how one becomes closer to the sufferings of Christ by becoming closer to the sufferings of others. The sufferings of Christ are not an image that we contemplate on a crucifix. Just the opposite, the crucifix is a constant reminder that Christ continues to suffer due to our sins and through those who are vulnerable members of society. The crucifix is a reminder of suffering that is on-going, not something that happened 2000 years ago. Christās passion extended beyond time and embraces all suffering and heals all sin, if the person is willing to be healed.
She espoused the concerns of her Divine spouse, the redemption of man, the dignity of man and the sin of man. This was an extraordinary woman.
JR
JR, this post of yours is so moving that I waited a day to respond to it. For some years of my life, I gave direct care to abused/ill infants, toddlers, preschoolers in a pediatric skilled nursing unit. I did this as one of my ābreaksā from social service (reisdential care of children). As any one could guess, a number of these little ones died while in our care. It was no great surprise, one might say, as theyād come to us with prognoses of death and yet, it was a terrible surprise each time. Three of the babies were especially āmineā in that we worked from the principle of primary-care and the families had minimal or no involvement with the children. (The children came to us by order of the courts.)Sometimes we overlook the saints in our families and communities. I often find myself praying to my oldest son who died at age 7.
I always remind my youngest son and my daughter that our little boy is among the saints that we remember on the Solemnity of All Saints. They are the unknown saints, but saints nonetheless, as were Paul, Peter, Teresa, Agatha, Augustine, Francis, Elizabeth Ann and others.
If it so comforting to me to know that I have a son who is a real saint to whom I can pray and who will pray for me.
JR
My sonās name is Jesse. I had the privilege of baptizing him myself. What an awesome responsibility and privilege when you get to baptize your own child. But as I think about this I often get very emotional, because there is no doubt in my mind that he is among the saints whom we venerate on All Saints Day. There is no doubt, because the Lord gave me the grace of baptizing my own son, so that I would know for sure of his sanctity.
āHe who is mighty has done great things for meā and holy is His Name. A loving reminder form Our Jewish Mother! Of all the babies in my care, I baptized Tyrone whose personal history was so horrible I canāt even repeat it right now. I gave him the Saintās name of Stephen: Tyrone Stephen. He died later in the day of his Baptism. He was five months old, with us two months.My sonās name is Jesse. I had the privilege of baptizing him myself. What an awesome responsibility and privilege when you get to baptize your own child. But as I think about this I often get very emotional, because there is no doubt in my mind that he is among the saints whom we venerate on All Saints Day. There is no doubt, because the Lord gave me the grace of baptizing my own son, so that I would know for sure of his sanctity.
Sometimes I wonder why God gave me such a wondereful gift and I believe that maybe Iām like Thomas. If I had not put my fingers into the Lordās wounds I would have doubted. But in this case, there is no room for doubt.
I am reminded of the Canticle of Mary. āHe who is mighty has done great things for me.ā
JR
Iād like to focus on just this one thought for a minute.THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO SAINTHOOD
So many people have such a difficult time forgiving the Church.
A saint understands that if you cannot forgive the Mystical Body of Christ and her shepherds, how can you ask for forgiveness for you? Are you and I greater than the Mystical Body? Are you and I more holy than the people of God? Are you and I the arbiters of Godās justice and mercy? Or are you and I sinful men and women who are in need of the same mercy and forgiveness as everyone else?
JR