Who are the Saints?

What follows is something of the talk that I will give this evening at the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults:

Who are the Saints?

Very often when we think of the Saints we think of those people that we see on cartoons. We think of someone floating aimlessly on a cloud and playing a harp. It seems a boring existence to us, and rightly so.

Like many popular images, this one simply is false. If we want to know what the Saints are doing, we ought to take a look at the Revelation of Saint John. He writes: (Read Revelation 4-5, and 7)

The Saints stand forever around the throne of God, praising and worshipping his majesty.

And yet, this still does not really answer the question, “Who are the Saints?” Pope Benedict XVI described the Saints in this way:

The saint is he who is so fascinated by the beauty of God and by his perfect truth to be progressively transformed by it. Because of this beauty and truth, he is ready to renounce everything, even himself. The love of God is enough, which he experiences in the humble and disinterested service to the neighbor, especially to those who cannot give back in return.[1]

The Saint is not one who boringly plucks at a harp and floats purposely about. The Saint is the one who follows Christ Jesus without reservation. The Saint is the one who heard Jesus say, “No on who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). They are the ones who followed the command given to Moses and to us: “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2).

Sanctity through the Cross

Becoming a Saint is no easy task, “but we are not made for ease.”[2] To this the Lord calls each one of us in a particular and individual way. None of us will grow in holiness in precisely the same way, but we can learn from each other and especially from those who have faithfully followed Christ already.

The Church's experience shows that every form of holiness, even if it follows different paths, always passes through the Way of the Cross, the way of self-denial. The Saints' biographies describe men and women who, docile to the divine plan, sometimes faced unspeakable trials and suffering, persecution and martyrdom. They persevered in their commitment: "they... have come out of the great tribulation", one reads in Revelation, "they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rv 7: 14). Their names are written in the book of life (cf. Rv 20: 12) and Heaven is their eternal dwelling-place.[3]

Becoming holy, becoming a Saint requires a full embrace of the Cross, in whatever form it comes to us. In this way, we fulfill the command of the Lord Jesus: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Luke 9:23-24).

To embrace the Cross “requires neither extraordinary actions or works nor the possession of exceptional charisms.”[4] What is necessary is “first of all to listen to Jesus and then to follow him without losing heart when faced by difficulties. ‘If anyone serves me’, he warns us, ‘he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him’” (John 12: 26).[5]

To these men and women who have faithfully followed the Way of the Cross throughout the ages, Christ the Lord has said: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy” (Matthew 25:21).

When we look at the lives of the Saints, "… as if in a great picture-book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed. They are the shining path which God himself has traced throughout history and is still tracing today."[6] The Saints show us how to follow Christ, the show us his commands can indeed be lived, that one can be faithful in following after him, that each of us is called to holiness.

Is holiness possible?

Holiness demands a constant effort, but it is possible for everyone because, rather than a human effort, it is first and foremost a gift of God, thrice Holy (cf. Isaiah 6: 3). In the second reading, the Apostle John remarks: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" (I John 3: 1).

It is God, therefore, who loved us first and made us his adoptive sons in Jesus. Everything in our lives is a gift of his love: how can we be indifferent before such a great mystery? How can we not respond to the Heavenly Father's love by living as grateful children? In Christ, he gave us the gift of his entire self and calls us to a personal and profound relationship with him.

Consequently, the more we imitate Jesus and remain united to him the more we enter into the mystery of his divine holiness. We discover that he loves us infinitely, and this prompts us in turn to love our brethren. Loving always entails an act of self-denial, "losing ourselves", and it is precisely this that makes us happy.[7]

How did they do this? Some of them set out specifically to become Saints. Saint Therese of Lisieux said, “I want to spend my Heaven doing good on earth.” Then there are others who spent a good deal of time running from the Lord, like Saint Augustine of Hippo. This great Doctor of the Church once said, “Lord, give me chastity and continency but not yet!”

Some Saints were superbly intelligent theologians and others were humble beggars. Some were courageous enough to challenge Popes and others were content to spend their days opening doors for others. Some Saints were married and some were single. Some Saints were joyful always and others were famed for their grumpiness and sharp tongue. The great differences among the Saints simply demonstrate for us that anybody can become a Saint, even you and me.

In all that they said and did, the Saints loved Jesus above all else; they placed everything second to their relationship with Christ: their family and friends, their work and duties, their studies and games, everything, and, in the example of the Martyrs, even their very lives. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that "the saints and the blesseds did not doggedly seek their own happiness, but simply wanted to give themselves, because the light of Christ had shone upon them. They show us the way to attain happiness, they show us how to be truly human."[8]

We want to attain true happiness, we want to be truly and fully human, as God intended from the beginning. The Saints asked the Lord, “What shall I do” (Acts 22:10)? We, too, should ask this very same question.

In this the Saints can be of great assistance to us. There are many Saints and each of us can relate with at least one of their number. We can find encouragement in their lives knowing that they – who are very much like us – followed in the footsteps of the Savior. Now we can follow in their footsteps, too. Pope Benedict XVI said of the Saints: "For us they are encouraging examples to imitate; they assure us that if we follow this path, the way of love, with fidelity, we too, as the psalmist sings, will be satisfied with God's presence (cf. Psalm 17[16]:15)".[9]

Many today suggest that the Catholic Church puts too much emphasis on the cult of the Saints, that we do not spend enough time and energy reflecting on Christ himself. This simply is not true because,

We do not praise God sufficiently by keeping silent about his saints, especially Mary, “the holy one” who became his dwelling place on earth. The simple and multiform light of God appears to us exactly in its variety and richness only in the countenance of the saints, who are the true mirrors of his light. And it is precisely by looking at Mary's face that we can see more clearly than in any other way the beauty, goodness and mercy of God. In her face we can truly perceive the divine light.[10]

Celebrating the Saints

Saint Anthony of Padua said, “We celebrate their feasts, so as to receive from their lives a pattern of living.”[11] At the same time, though, he chides us, saying,

How ridiculous, to want to honour the saints on their days with eating, when we know that they got to heaven by fasting! If we do not imitate the saints, but rather love the world and its glory; if we pamper our bodies with pleasure and amass money: then their justice will prove that we ought to be condemned.[12]

Let us, then, look to the Saints for what they are: faithful followers of Jesus Christ who pray for us each day that we may follow after them and stand with them around the throne of God. Indeed,

The witnesses who have preceeded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom the have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were “put in charge of many things” [Matthew 25:31]. Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.[13]

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 23 October 2005.
[2] Ibid., Address to His Countrymen, 25 April 2005.
[3] Ibid., Homily, 1 November 2006.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., Youth Vigil, 20 August 2005.
[7] Ibid., Homily, 1 November 2006.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid., Papal Address at the Shrine of the Holy Face, Manoppello, Italy, 1 September 2006.
[10] Ibid., Homily, 15 August 2006.
[11] Saint Anthony of Padua, Homily, Fourth Sunday after Easter, 11.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2683.