November----- All Saints

Just for Today #431    November--- All Saints

11-25-13

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

#962---- "We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints always (attentive) to our prayers.

From My Life with the Saints----- by James Martin, SJ

"My first year as Jesuit novice was one of exhilarating new experiences: discovering prayer and Christian spirituality; working with the poor and living in a religious community; encountering the joys of the liturgical year; and, not incidentally, learning about the saints.

It seemed that each novice entered the novitiate with a favorite saint or holy person. For the most part, it was easy to tell who the favorite saint was. Occasionally you were told outright. But usually the means of discovery was subtler: sometimes you could tell by the way a particular saint kept popping up in conversation, or by the way a person seemed almost imperceptibly happier on his saint's feast day, or by spying a holy card falling silently from his Bible as he turned a page while in chapel.

That's what this book is: a personal introduction to some of my favorite saints, holy persons, and companions. (Technically, a "saint" is someone who has been canonized, or officially recognized by the church as a person who has lived a holy life, enjoys life in heaven with God, and is worthy of public veneration by the faithful.) Over the past few years, whenever I've felt particularly close to a saint, I've spent some time writing down what drew me to him or her. Some of these essays reflect a devotion based on the public actions and well-known writings of a saint; others are rooted in a more personal response to a hidden part of a saint's life---- a small, almost unnoticed, piece of his or her story that has affected me in a deep way.

One day at Mass in the Novitiate chapel, I heard---- as if for the first time--- a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the saints: "You renew the Church in every age by raising up men and women outstanding in holiness, living witnesses of your unchanging love. They inspire us by their heroic lives, and help us by their constant prayers to be the living sign of your saving power."----- And I thought, YES!

Father Martin's list of Saints and Holy People was as follows:

Joan of Arc
Therese of Lisieux
Thomas Merton
Ignatius of Loyola
Pedro Arrupe
Bernadette Soubirous
Mother Teresa
Pope John XXIII
Dorothy Day
Peter
Thomas Aquinas
Francis of Assisi
Joseph
The Ugandan Martyrs
Aloysius Gonzaga
Mary

As for myself, I have prayed to been and close "Friends" with a number of Saints and Holy People:

St Benedict
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Anthony of Padua
Thomas Merton
St. Francis de Sales
St. Basil the Great
St. Aelred of Rievaulx
St. Vincent de Paul
St. Paul
St. Peter
St. Andrew
St. Scholastica
St. Isidore the Farmer
St. John the Baptist
St. John the Baptist de la Salle
St. Bruno
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. Maximilian Kolbe
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Robert Bellarmine
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
Mother Teresa
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Francis
Leah Kunz
Susan Zachman
Anna Freund

Amen

Year of Faith Plus 1

Peace

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