ALL SAINTS' DAY

The Saints go marching on 

During the Second World War, six million Jews perished in the Nazi death camps. That number would have been greater, but happily, at least 500,000 were rescued or protected by ordinary people. They were quite ordinary people, in fact, for the most part, individualists  -  they did not usually do what society demanded, for example, to share in the almost universal hatred of the Jews. They just got into the habit of doing good, finding themselves responding first to a need and only second to the danger, and believing that the gift of goodness could be passed on. If you perceive sainthood as an undesirable attribute or think of saints as one-dimensional shadows of real human beings, you probably have never met cantankerous Saint Jerome or firebrand Saint John the Baptist, anxious and tormented Padre Pio or wry Saint Teresa, joke-cracking bishop Saint Laurence O’Toole or achingly grateful Saint Mary Magdalene, brainy and poetic Saint Thomas Aquinas or indomitable Saint Catherine of Siena, moody Saint Augustine, playful Saint Therese or mad Saint John of God. When Jesus came upon them, they realised that they had been missing out in life. Other saints gave up lucrative careers to become poor in the Lord, like Francis Xavier who became a great missionary. One can think of the young troubadour Francesco. He is known as “the sweet saint” who discovered what “la dolce vita” meant when lived with the Lord. Other saints simply lived by their convictions and remained steadfast in challenging circumstances. Thus, Thomas More, who had received Catholic education like any other lad, and lived by it even if it meant disagreeing with King Henry VIII. From the ashes of Teresa da Ahumada rose the great Teresa of Jesus (of Avila).Perhaps you did not know that among the saints there are people who, rather than being meek and mild, are rather furious. Among the saints there are also great wits, addle-brained dreamers, foolish oafs, mischievous curmudgeons, radical crusaders, shy artists, and passionate poets. There are housewives and kings, tax agents and lawyers (yes, lawyers!), bakers and erstwhile brigands. But in this diverse bunch of souls for Christ, there are common characteristics. All the saints share certain virtues - a yearning for holiness, an intimacy with God, perseverance in prayer, humility of heart, and love of their fellow men and women, that is, charity of soul. There is a universal hunger for examples of goodness and bravery, and it needs to be nourished and cultivated. Children are spontaneous with goodness and love. God’s kingdom is the place of natural, easy-flowing goodness. That is the stuff of sainthood, or at least the beginning of it. The saints began that way, too, finding out the truth about themselves, the world and God.  For that priceless pearl they marched out of step with the assumptions of their society. They marched to a different drummer, named Jesus Christ. “Blessed are the poor, the meek, and those who suffer for justice sake.” The world considers these mad slogans, because the order of the day is pleasure, excitement, evasion of duty, the race for power, and a refusal to face the truth. Society is sick, not the saints mad!  The saints were human, indeed. Jesus has shown that the divine and the human can run on the same tether, so that body and spirit pull in the same direction, and the human can live perfectly in the presence of the divine. From mere dust the body, energised by the spirit, becomes star dust!  Saints’ lives have taught people to change from being mere receivers to great givers. And the saints cared chiefly for the best kind of giving which is called thanksgiving. They knew that the praise of God stands on the strongest ground when it stands on nothing; and God is too great for anything but gratitude.