-“The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs”, Fra Angelico, OP, about 1423-4, The National Gallery, London, please click on the image for greater detail.
-by Br. John Paul Kern, OP(Br John Paul converted to the Catholic faith while studying mechanical & nuclear engineering at Penn State)
“I recently heard a priest explain, “saints are like stained glass—they let the light in.” I have had ample opportunity to reflect upon this beautiful image while living at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York City this summer, which is adorned with several, striking stained glass windows. Indeed, without these windows, the church would be very dark inside, and so would human history without Jesus Christ, Who is the light of the world, reflected in the lives of the saints. They let the light of Christ in.
Unfortunately, we sometimes think of saints as mere archetypes of heroic Christian virtue. Like beautiful Greek statues their beauty is in the abstracted form—excellent, but generic. Yet the true glory of the saints lies in their reflection of God’s glory, and their luminescence comes from the way in which God’s grace perfects them as unique persons. As St. Irenaeus wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” The fully-alive saints make manifest the light of God’s greatness not like perfectly standardized windows, of the uniformly bland kind seen in so many office fronts, but as the handcrafted stained glass windows of a church. Just as God knit us together in our mother’s womb—something common to all of us and yet also unique in a way for each individual—he also forms us throughout our lives, by grace, into the image of Jesus Christ. And yet each Christian and especially every saint is a unique living image.
It is right that we remember saints as heroes in the faith, for in this way they most fully manifest the Imago Dei. But this emphasis, combined with the stories of their greatest actions, such as the conversion of thousands of people at a time, miraculous healings, and even raising the dead, can also leave us feeling a bit disconnected. Watching the ESPN highlight reels of all-stars is inspirational for every young, aspiring athlete. But no one is born an all-star, so it’s also important to hear that Michael Jordan didn’t make the cut for his high school basketball team and to remember the stories of struggle, hard work, perseverance, and the ups and downs along the way. (Ed. Christians are not born, they are made, by their cooperation, through their own free will, and His most AWESOME grace!!! His grace is EVERYTHING!!! EVERYTHING!!!)
None of us is born a saint, and so we similarly find great encouragement in the conversion stories in the lives of the saints as well as people we know. I especially enjoy the way in which the Jesus of Nazareth series, which is usually televised each year before Easter, shows the fallen humanity of the Apostles when Jesus begins his work of forming them. Before they were pillars of the Church, they certainly appeared to be rather poor clay.(AND HOW!!!) All persons are wounded by sin, but this affects us in different ways. Sin affected Peter’s temper, Matthew’s honesty, and Thomas’s faith. Yet for each of the saints this is where Jesus met them, and this is where Jesus meets us, right where we need Him most.
Each saint has a unique life story with particular struggles and also many unique moments of conversion, some hidden and gradual, others public and spectacular. In the extended interview Salt of the Earth, Cardinal Ratzinger (before he was Pope Benedict XVI) was asked, “how many ways are there to God?” He replied,
‘As many ways as there are people. For even within the same faith each man’s way is an entirely personal one. In that respect there is ultimately one way, and everyone who is on the way to God is therefore in some sense also on the way to Jesus Christ. But this does not mean that all ways are identical in terms of consciousness and will but on the contrary, the one way is so big that it becomes a personal way for each man.’
Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man, is the one path to God. As He told the Apostles, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). Yet, the saints, through their incredibly diverse lives, show us that the redemption offered in Jesus Christ is a unique path for each of us. While, as Lumen Gentium states, the call to holiness is universal, this holiness will reflect God’s glory in as many ways as there are people, and this more fully manifests God’s glory.
God calls us to holiness in Jesus Christ and wills to make each of His unique children saints. May we strive to respond to His call and cooperate with His grace so that we may let His light into our lives and into our world in the unique way God has in store for each of us.”
Praise Him, Church. Praise Him.
Love,
Matthew
Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” (St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England), "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom
