For All the Saints

Saint Clare and Saint Francis of Assisi

We look to the saints, and follow their gaze heavenward.

Today is the Feast of All Saints. This is one of my favorite feast days. First of all, it is the feast day of ALL of those that the church recognizes as being in heaven. That means it's the feast of St. Francis of Assisi just as much as it is the feast of St. Francis de Sales. Three hundred years separate the two in earthly reckoning, and the differences also extend to dispositions and roles in the church. But today (and, in reality, through all eternity) they are honored side by side--completely united in the love of Christ.

My love for the saints has increased, rather than decreased, as I have gotten older. Most people become more cynical as they "grow up"--leaving behind those childish notions of piety and devotion. I also feel the tugs of the secular world, telling me to abandon those silly traditions and live in the here and now. "Why must you always be looking to the things and people of the past?" one childhood friend chided me once. I didn't have an answer for him then.

But now I think of the great people of the past as more than models of virtue and holiness. They are truly friends, comrades in the fight. And we are so blessed to have an abundance of friends to choose from. Depending on your own personality and inclinations, you can have the quiet, humble St. Therese of Lisieux for your patron or the boisterous, bumbling Saint Peter. Both were incredibly in love with Christ; both strove to join him someday in heaven. Both were missionaries: St. Therese as a missionary of prayer--never leaving her Carmelite convent; St. Peter as a missionary of action--spreading the Gospel far and wide and leading the Church as the first pope.

They are patrons, in that they are looking out for us, aiding us in their prayers and intercession. And so I pray to them, for their help and guidance. They have won the fight for themselves, but now they are like generals in an army, guiding and molding those still engaged in battle.

Is devotion to the saints foolish, childish, or even superstitious? In 1 Corinthians 2:14, St. Paul writes, "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them." God's ways are not our ways; rather they are beyond our understanding: truly mysterious and truly glorious.