A Conversation About Saints

Tapestry at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles

This morning I was engaged in a very stimulating conversation on saints.  Since the beginning of Lent I have been meeting on Friday mornings in my living room with a small group from my home parish to watch Fr. Robert Barron's documentary series CATHOLICISM.  I can't praise this series enough and the episode we watched this morning was the one on the Communion of Saints.  If I had to choose my favorite episode of the entire series this would probably be it.

He begins by telling the story of from the Gospel of Luke (5:1-11) of the call of Simon. Simon and his companions were fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus gets into Simon's boat, uninvited, orders him to go out to deep water and cast out their nets.  They haul in a tremendous catch of fish.  Jesus then tells Simon that he will now be a fisher of men.  Fr. Barron suggests that a saint is "someone who lets Jesus into their boat."  He calls this an "invasion of Grace." Those two phrases stuck with me the first time I saw this episode and they still resonate in me every time I view it. When the people in my living room heard this I could tell that this struck them as well. 

When I was young and in Catholic school, of course we learned about the saints, but I never thought much of them.  They were interesting and sometimes strange people who appeared to be so unlike anyone I could ever knew or could strive to be like. I didn't understand why people had a devotion to the saints when they could go straight to Jesus.  The saints were no more real to me than the plaster statues that some people had in their homes or that were in church.

All that changed after beginning graduate studies in theology, when I took a course on St. Thérèse of Lisieux. I, like Fr. Barron mentions in this episode, had read her autobiography but found it overly sentimental.  I found out through the course that many people only see that one side of Thérèse and that more recent editions of her book, Story of a Soul, based on unedited translations of her original manuscript, present a very complex and not a all sentimental young woman.  As I read her letters and her poetry, I came to appreciate this complexity and came to love her.  If I could change how I felt about Thérèse, what about other saints? So began a journey that continues today of reading the lives and writings of the saints.  They have become my friends.

Part of our conversation this morning centered around Fr. Barron's remark that we should all strive to be saints. We look at the lives of saints and we see their heroic virtue and think that we can't be like that.  Why not?  When I read or hear their stories, they were just ordinary people who let Jesus be the center of their lives. Isn't that what Jesus wants of us? I admit it is not easy, but was it easy for them?  And what's the alternative. If we don't become saints then what does that mean?  I don't even want to think about that. So we decided we all want to be saints, and hopefully all came away from this video and conversation with a clearer view on what it means to be a saint.  We decided to let Jesus into our boat and set out into deep water.

New Growth

The first day of spring! It doesn't seem like such a big deal this year since we have been having such beautiful spring weather for the last month.  My daffodils, which usually bloom in April, have been in full bloom for a week already, and the blossoms on the trees are about to burst forth in color.  The birds are making their nests and the Canadian Geese are stopping traffic on the ramps on and off the parkways here on Long Island.

I love spring!  It's a time of new growth and I have many wonderful memories of childhood walking to school and looking at all the tulips, daffodils and hyacinths blooming in the yards I passed. I loved the smell of freshly mowed lawns that have laid dormant all winter. Spring meant time for the bicycles to come out of the garage and to locate our roller skate key (us Boomers remember those).  It was time for jumprope, chalk on the sidewalks, new pink Spauldines and bubblegum baseball cards.

Spring also meant Easter was near.  Easter is less than three weeks away and we are counting down to the final days of Lent. Lent by the way means spring, but you probably knew I was going to make a connection somehow.  New growth is all around us, but how about our spiritual growth?  This Lent has been good.  One of the better ones of the past few years.  I did slip up here and there but there has been so much inner growth, some healing of past hurts, and an emerging fervor in evangelizing others.

I think much of my growth this Lent has to do with Robert Barron's Catholicism series. I have been presenting them three times a week at work and to friends at home, and I never get tired of seeing the same episodes over and over again. Each time I see an episode I pick up some new tidbit of information or insight. It's like my daffodils.  I never get tired of them and each year they multiply and bring me more joy. If you haven't seen the series find a parish near you that is showing them or ask your library to purchase the set, or splurge and buy a set for yourself.

Our Catholic faith is a great treasure that needs to be celebrated and shared.  This Lent has been a time of persecution for the Church but it has also been a time of rebirth and renewed fervor for what the Church can offer us, new life in Christ. In times of persecution the Church has grown stronger. In these final days of Lent, if you haven't already, renew your commitment to Christ and His Church. Visit a parish near you, celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation, and re-discover the joy of being Catholic.

I'm still here and thinking of Lent

Over two weeks have gone by since I last posted but aside from being extremely busy at work, I am experiencing a major attack of writers' block, which is not good since I have an article due at the beginning of February.  I am also working on preparing a special project for our parish during Lent.  We are going to be distributing a free book to any parishioner who wants one.  The book is Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly and is part of the Dynamic Catholic Institute founded by Kelly to help Catholics not only learn about their faith but to rediscover the beauty of our Catholic Faith.

Kelly found that most Catholics have not read good books on the faith. He makes books available for a minimal fee of $2 a copy if a parish orders over 500 copies. Currently there are three other titles available in the program. Through the generosity of a parishioner, we will be able to distribute 1500 copies of the book on the first Sunday of Lent. Hopefully our parishioners will read the book as part of their Lenten discipline.   At a later time, probably soon after Easter, we will have gatherings where people can talk about what they have "re-discovered" about their faith.

I am also working on showing the series Catholicism to small groups. Yet the fact that due to a lighting project in our church, our large meeting room is set up for daily mass during the week.  This will limit the number of people who we will be able to accommodate in our much smaller meeting rooms.  I am hoping people have heard of this wonderful series which I have already viewed twice and used with RCIA and an adult formation class.  I will be asking people to invite a friend to attend with them.

Personally, I am discerning what book I will be reading for Lent as well as what other disciplines I will be engaging.  Lent is still a month away, but it is never too early to start thinking about it.  Liturgy Training Publications has a wonderful little booklet What Am I Doing For Lent This Year? that helps people with that regard.  At $1 per copy with generous discounts for large orders, it is something the parish can purchase and distribute now to get a jump on Lent.

A Great Christmas Present

For Christmas my husband bought me Fr. Robert Barron's video series Catholicism. Portions of the series have been shown on PBS and EWTN but the discs have much more that was not shown on television.  I can't say enough about the quality of this series.

Two of my favorite episodes were the ones on the Blessed Mother and the one on the saints. I used the episode on the Blessed Mother with our RCIA class two weeks ago since I bought the series for work.  They said it really assisted them in understanding who Our Lady is as well as the Church's teaching on her.  Even our team members said they learned a lot by viewing it.

The episode on the saints impressed me since he chose only women to focus on, and these women were ones who all gave up a very privileged life to dedicate themselves to God.  He chose Katherine Drexel, Therese of Lisieux, Edith Stein, and Mother Teresa.  He begins the episode with the story of Jesus getting into Peter's boat, without permission, and ordering him to "put out into the deep" (Lk.5:4).  After catching multitudes of fish, Peter leaves his livelihood to follow Jesus.  Fr. Barron says that  "Saints are those who allow Jesus to get into their boats." I found that a very powerful statement which also challenges me.  Do I allow Jesus into my boat? Am I willing to leave everything to follow Him?

I am hoping to use the series at work in ways other than RCIA. It's great for Adult Faith Formation and for Small Christian Communities. I was thinking of even inviting a few friends over to my house perhaps one evening once or twice a month to view the videos and discuss what we got out of them. My husband and I have already had some discussions after viewing the DVDs.  The cost is a bit high but it is a bit less expensive on Amazon. I decided to purchase it from Fr. Barron's ministry Word on Fire to help support the great work he does.  Why not ask your pastor to purchase it for the parish?