Friday, November 1, 2013

WHY THE SAINTS

Rev 7:2-14; Ps 24 Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face; 1 John 3:1-3; Matt 5:1-12

Why do we bother with the saints?  Why do we bother with acknowledging these men and women who have lived heroic and virtuous lives of courage, dedication, faithfulness, charity, service and the list goes on and on?

What's the deal anyway?

Here is a word from former Pope Benedict that might help clear up doubt and confusion, 

"Anyone who begins to consider the lives of the saints finds there an inexhaustible richness of histories that are more than homiletic models: the confirmation of the call of Christ through the centuries full of blood and tears.  Only when we have rediscovered the saints will we also rediscover the Church and in doing so will likewise rediscover the Lord himself as one who lives amid all the darkness, who will not die again, who will not leave us orphans."

Why do we bother with the saints?  Well so that we can recognize the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to the apostles the night before he took the cross to calvary:  I will not leave you orphans.

Saints are those who show us that Christ has kept his promise.  Christ is alive.  Christ has found a home in the human heart through the centuries.  He has radiated outward through these men and women and he wants nothing more than find a home in us so that we might continue to reflect his infinite goodness and light to world that has a tendency to grow dark.


We see in the saints what God in Christ desires to do with us!




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