Answering Questions about the Saints

C.S. Lewis once wrote the following:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself."

Today we will be talking about people who have allowed the Lord to make them into magnificent palaces: men and women who have responded to God’s grace to such an extent that they serve as examples of faith and virtue for the rest of us. We’re going to talk, in other words, about the saints. I’m Fr. Ray Suriani, assistant pastor of St. Pius X Church in Westerly, and I welcome you to another Keep the Faith program. In the two most recent shows that I’ve done for this series, I’ve addressed common questions that Catholics and others ask about the pope and the Blessed Mother. Those are subjects of great interest to many people, as is today’s topic--the saints. First of all, a quick clarification: when I use the term "saints" today, I’m referring to those souls who have already made it--those men and women, in other words, who have already arrived in God’s heavenly kingdom. Sometimes the term "saint" is used in Scripture and by Christians to designate believers who are still alive here on earth. That’s a perfectly legitimate use of the word, of course, but it’s not the way the term will be used in this program. Remember what St. John wrote in chapter 7 of the Book of Revelation? He said this, in reference to one of the many visions God gave him:

"After this I saw before me a huge crowd which no one could count from every nation and race, people and tongue. They stood before the throne and the Lamb, dressed in long white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, "Salvation is from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb! . . . Then one of the elders asked me, "Who are these people all dressed in white? And where have they come from? I said to him, "Sir, you should know better than I." He then told me, "These are the ones who have survived the great period of trial; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

These are the saints this program will deal with: those who have persevered in their faith and gone to heaven. This illustrious group would include those who went to heaven immediately after death, as well as those who had need of final purification in purgatory, and have already completed that process. Hopefully, all of us will someday be a part of this vast crowd of holy souls dressed in white. Actually, this should be the number one priority of our lives: becoming a saint and entering God’s eternal kingdom. Ultimately, nothing else matters. As Jesus once said, "What does it profit a person to gain the whole world, and lose his soul in the process?" Every once in a while someone will say to me, "Father Ray, I could never be a saint! That’s for people like Mother Teresa (God rest her soul); that’s for people like the pope." To that I respond, "Well, my friend, if you don’t end up a saint, there’s only one alternative! At the end of time, there will be only two groups of people: the saints and the damned! So obviously sanctity is for everybody, not only for a select few." And lest we forget: some of the greatest saints were also, at one time in their lives, great sinners. For example, in 1st Timothy, chapter 1, St. Paul wrote, "I was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, a man filled with arrogance." Obviously Paul was not always Saint Paul! St. Augustine lived a sexually permissive life for years before his conversion. In the Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11, many of the Old Testament saints are praised for their faith; but if you go back and read their stories in Scripture, you see that they were not perfect. Some, in fact, committed very serious sins before God fashioned them into saints. So there’s always hope--even for the greatest of sinners.

In the Catholic Church, we honor certain canonized saints during the liturgical year. These are the saints that most people are familiar with; although the Church also has a special day (November 1st) during which we honor the many saints who are not known--the many un-canonized saints that John saw in his vision in Revelation 7. Now for those who may not be familiar with ecclesiastical terminology, "canonization" is an official declaration of the Church, verifying the fact that a person is already in heaven and worthy of veneration and imitation. Notice I did not say "worship." Catholics do not worship either the Blessed Mother or the saints! We honor them because of what God’s grace accomplished in their lives. We honor them because they are, in a sense, God’s great works of art. They show us what God can do with ordinary human beings who cooperate with his grace and live in his love. And so the Church focuses our attention on these individuals as if to say, "God can do the same thing in your life, if you let him." In this way the saints are given to us as role models--the best possible role models. And this is why I believe we need the saints now more than ever. Role models in the modern world are scarce. Several years ago I remember reading an article entitled, "Heroes, are we better off without them?" The author’s main point was that heroism is a myth. There are no real heroes, he said. Sooner or later, everyone is shown to have clay feet. Well to that, the Church says, "Not true! There are many, many people throughout the centuries who have lived lives of incredible holiness and virtue--sometimes in the face of tremendous difficulties and trials. They are true witnesses to the fact that ‘with God all things are possible.’" This is why our young people need to become familiar with the lives of the saints. If you have children, I beg you: buy them appropriate books and videos on great saints like Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena. Young people need good role models. Unfortunately, today, they often make the mistake of looking to actors and athletes for their primary inspiration in life; and when these people let them down, they end up disillusioned, disappointed or even cynical. The saints do not disappoint--the saints give encouragement; the saints give hope. I know a young man who lived a self-destructive life as a teenager. The old adage "wine, women and song" pretty much summed up his day to day experience. He had no goals and no purpose in living. As a college freshman, he made a retreat, opened his heart to Christ, and his life began to change. He became familiar with some of the canonized saints of the Church, and was deeply inspired by one: Francis of Assisi. He left the school he was attending and transferred to the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, from which he graduated a couple of years ago. He then entered a Franciscan religious order, where he is today. He is now a happy and peaceful young man with a definite purpose: he wants to serve his God for the rest of his life by working with the poor. He wants to do, in other words, what Francis of Assisi did. That’s a great example of how a saint can bring out the best in a young person. And this is one reason why I say we need the saints now more than ever! Our young people are hungry for direction, they’re hungry for leadership; the saints give them both, in abundance.

At this point, some might object: "But I don’t need the saints, I have Jesus. He’s my role model; he’s the one I strive to imitate in my life!" I would respond to that objection by saying this: The Catholic Church does not encourage devotion to the saints in order to take our focus off Jesus. In fact, just the opposite is true: The Church encourages devotion to the saints in order to increase our love for Jesus. We must always remember--the saints became saints for one reason: because they imitated Christ in their lives. That’s why we honor them. And so, if we follow their example, we are actually following the example of Jesus. I believe that if we didn’t have the lives of the saints to inspire us, we would easily get discouraged in our Christian walk. We’d be tempted to say, "Dear Jesus, I can’t do it! You tell me to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect, but that’s impossible! You did it, Jesus, because you were a divine person, but I’m just a weak human person. There’s no way that I or anyone else can even come close to that ideal." The saints, by the way they lived their lives, tell us, "Yes, you can. By the grace of God, you can live in faith and in charity like we did. We were weak human beings just like you are, but by the power of the risen Christ we were made strong." I once heard a story about Mother Teresa that illustrates beautifully how the saints point us to Jesus, not away from him. I mention this because, even though Mother Teresa has not been canonized by the Church, she showed the world for many years the qualities that lead to canonization. Mother Teresa, as most of us know, cared for thousands of sick and dying people in Calcutta and other places, and she was an instrument of conversion for many of them. Someone once asked her how she brought so many to the Lord. She said, "After I took care of them and showed them love, I would say to them, ‘Would you like to hear about Christ?’ And they would say, ‘Is Christ like you? Is Christ like you?’ ‘No,’ I would say, ‘but I try to be like him.’ They would answer, ‘Then I want to be a Christian.’"

Mother Teresa pointed people beyond herself and to Jesus Christ. Every true saint does the same thing.

At this point, let’s take a short break. Please stay tuned, we’ll be back in a minute.

Welcome back to our program. If you just tuned in, we’re talking today about the saints: the great men and women of God who are given to us by the Church as examples of holiness and deeply committed Christian living. Again, recall the clarification I made at the beginning of the show: I’m using the term ‘saint’ here to designate those who are already in heaven, not the community of Christian believers here on earth.

I’d like to begin this segment of our program by discussing the issue of intercession. Catholics, along with certain other Christians, often pray to the saints. They will say, "I prayed to St. Anthony today," or "I just started a novena to St. Teresa of Avila this morning." Now, admittedly, this sometimes causes confusion and even anger in Christians who do not share our beliefs. Their first protest will usually be, "I pray to God, I don’t pray to saints." Well, so do Catholics. In fact, every prayer to a saint, is actually a prayer to the Lord; because the prayer never ends with the saint. The prayer to the saint, is actually a request for the saint to pray for us.

I can already hear the next objection: "I don’t need to have a saint pray for me, I go directly to Jesus." Well, so do I; so does every true and faithful Catholic. But we also ask saints to intercede for us. Why? Because, as the Bible says in James 5: 16, "The fervent prayer of a holy man is powerful indeed." We seek the prayers of the saints because of their holiness. St. James in this text is speaking specifically of holy people who are still on this earth. Well, if the prayers of holy people here on earth are effective, how much more powerful are the petitions of those who are living in God’s eternal kingdom? I don’t know about you, but I definitely want people like that interceding on my behalf!

Now for those who still insist on only going to Jesus directly—to you I say, "Please be consistent. If you don’t think that you need anyone else to pray for you, then be consistent. Don’t ever ask your friends to pray for you; don’t ever ask your pastor to pray for you; don’t ever ask any members of your church to pray for you. According to your belief system, you don’t need the help of these individuals. You don’t need their prayers; you can go directly to Jesus."

Okay, Fr. Ray, I see your point, but I still feel uncomfortable with this idea. Can you show me anywhere in the Bible where those who are in heaven actively intercede for people back on earth? Yes, I can. Turn with me to the Book of Revelation, chapter 6—we’ll start there. In Revelation 6, St. John sees a vision of the Lamb of God (Jesus) breaking the first six seals of the scroll: the scroll which gives us the keys for understanding human history. Now in verse 9 of that chapter it says this: "When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the spirits of those who had been martyred because of the witness they bore to the word of God. They cried out at the top of their voices: ’How long will it be, O Master, holy and true, before you judge our cause and avenge our blood among the inhabitants of the earth.’"

Here we have the martyrs of the first century praying for their suffering brothers and sisters back on earth! They haven’t forgotten about them; they continue, even in heavenly glory, to have a deep concern for the persecution their earthly friends are experiencing at the hands of the Roman emperors. Notice too, they are aware that this is happening. I’ve had discussions with Christians who tell me that they don’t think people in heaven are aware of what’s going on back here on earth. This text from Revelation disproves that thesis conclusively. As does the scene of the Transfiguration. Remember when Jesus took Peter, James and John up Mount Tabor and was transfigured before their eyes? We’re told that Moses and Elijah, both of whom had died centuries before, came on the scene and spoke with Jesus about his upcoming passion and death. They obviously knew what was happening on earth; otherwise they couldn’t have had that conversation with our Lord.

And here are two other relevant passages in the Book of Revelation: chapter 5, verse 8, and chapter 8, verses 3 and 4.

In chapter 5, verse 8, we’re told that the twenty-four elders in heaven are holding golden bowls filled with incense "which are the prayers of God’s holy people" according to the text.

And then, in chapter 8, we encounter an angel offering incense to God, and with it, Scripture says, "the prayers of God’s people."

So here, in the Book of Revelation, we see the martyrs, other saints called "the elders," and the angels of heaven interceding for men and women on earth. Contrary to what some believe, therefore, seeking the prayers of the angels and saints is a practice which is solidly rooted in the teaching of Sacred Scripture. That’s why the Catholic Church approves of it and promotes it.

Before I move on, let me quote two canonized saints on this issue: St. Dominic and St. Therese of Lisieux. Both of them believed that after they died they would still be able to assist their brothers and sisters whom they would leave behind. For example, when he was on his deathbed, St. Dominic said to his friends, "Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life." And St. Therese happily declared, "I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth." Some of you have received special favors through the prayers of these great saints; you all can certainly verify the truth of their words.

Discussion of the intercession of the saints logically leads to the subject of novenas. What is a novena? Simply defined, a novena is nine days of public or private prayer for a special intention or in honor of a special occasion. Why nine days? Because in Scripture we are told that for nine days between the Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost Sunday, the apostles and Mary gathered for constant prayer in the upper room, asking the Lord to send them the gift he had promised. The gift, of course, was the Holy Spirit, who descended on them in power when the day of Pentecost finally arrived.

Today in the Church we have many novenas—far too many to list here. People will often choose one based on a particular need. For example, at my parish we have an ongoing novena to Saint Jude. Novena prayers are said in the Church every Monday night at 7pm. St. Jude is traditionally recognized as the patron saint of hopeless or difficult cases. As you might imagine, many people seek the intercession of St. Jude. That’s because there are many, many "difficult cases" out there!

In treating this subject, mention should also be made of the superstitious beliefs and practices that some people have added on to legitimate novenas. Unfortunately, certain men and women seem to treat novena prayers like magical incantations. They believe that if they say the right prayers the right number of times, and then leave 20 copies of the prayers in the pews of the Church, that God will do what they want in precisely the way they think he should do it. Not true. A true novena, like any prayer of petition, always ends with the words: "May it be done, O Lord, according to your will." If those words are not explicitly said, they are certainly implied. Always!

Sometimes people will choose to say a novena to their personal patron saint, or the patron saint of their parish. What is a patron saint? Here’s how Fr. John Hardon defines the term in his pocket Catholic dictionary: "A saint . . . who, since early Christian times, has been chosen as a special intercessor with God for a particular person, place, community or organization. The custom arose from the biblical fact that a change of personal name indicated a change in the person, e.g. Abram to Abraham, Simon to Peter, Saul to Paul; and from the practice of having churches built over the tombs of the martyrs."

Another point of confusion regarding the saints concerns relics. A relic is simply an object connected with a saint; for example, a piece of a saint’s bone, an article of his clothing, or something the person used or touched. The most sacred relics are those from the actual bodies of the saints. Now some people mistakenly think that Catholics worship these objects. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whatever power relics have comes from God through faith. In the Book of Acts, chapter 19, we have a great example of how God can use a relic as an instrument of his healing. In verses 11 and 12 of that chapter we read, "God worked extraordinary miracles at the hands of Paul. When handkerchiefs or cloths which had touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases were cured and evil spirits departed from them." An Old Testament witness to the power of relics can be found in 2 Kings, chapter 13. There we are told that a dead man was throw into the grave of the great prophet Elisha. The Bible says that "when the man came in contact with the bones of [the prophet], he came back to life and rose to his feet." The power, of course, was not in Elisha, the power in the first example was not in Paul. In both those instances, the power at work was God’s power, operating through inanimate objects connected with holy people.

In closing today let me address one final issue: the mediation of Jesus Christ. Scripture affirms, and the Catholic Church clearly and forcefully teaches, that there is, in the words of St. Paul, only "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." The saints are not mediators in the sense that Jesus is. Their power as intercessors, their effectiveness as models of holiness, is rooted in the mediation of Jesus Christ. He is the reason that they are saints; he is the reason that their prayers are effective. It is through Jesus that they, and all of us, have access to the Father. As Fr. Peter Stravinskas put it in his Catholic Answer Book, "In the final analysis, devotion to the saints can best be appreciated when one sees the saints in glory as the friends of God and fellow members of the household of faith." To that I say, "Amen." The saints are not gods, they’re our older brothers and sisters; our friends who have "fought the good fight, run the race and kept the faith." And, as loving elder members of God’s family, they watch over us, pray for us, and cheer us on as we struggle to follow in their footsteps.

This is verified, I would say, in the 12^th chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. The author, in chapter 11, has just written about the great saints of the Old Testament, extolling their many virtues. Then, in reference to this illustrious group of holy men and women, he says, in order to inspire us: "Since, therefore, we for our part are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead; let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith."