My Favorite Saint

November 1, 2011

All Saints' Day is November 1 in the Western Christian church. It is a day on which we celebrate the lives of all the Saints.

Recently, in my Bible Study Class, someone asked, 'Who is your favorite Saint?' As we all spoke in turn around the table, I had an answer ready before it was my turn to speak. Others said, looking sort of stricken, "You mean, I'm supposed to have a favorite Saint?"

Have the lives of the Saints become archaic, irrelevant? Does anyone even study the Saints any longer?

My favorite Saint, hands down, is St. Paul. You see, I am a convert to Catholicism. During the conversion process, I was assigned to read The Conversion of Paul [ See The Conversion of Saul, Acts 9: 1-22]:

According to this story, "Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. . . . As he neared Demascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'  'Who are you, Lord?', Saul asked.  'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.' Saul got up from the ground but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. For three days, he was blind and did not eat or drink anything."

When I first read this account during my conversion, memories of all my difficult years, growing up in a house of no faith, came rushing back. Growing up, I was taken to church until I received First Holy Communion at age 14. Thereafter, I asked to go to church, but was told no. My ideas to give to charity, or be tolerant of others who were different, were mocked.  At times, I went hungry and I was cold. I was verbally abused and sometimes physically abused. I have been the victim of a violent crime and was left to deal with it alone. I married a Catholic but the wedding became a big fight, and the marriage was barely recognized, my husband barely acknowledged. But, I never gave up on God, nor on my faith in Him!

 During my conversion, it was suggested that I meditate upon the image of Jesus, But when I tried to do this, I could "see" Jesus's robes, his hair and even his beard, but hard as I tried, I could not see His face. I was as thunderstruck by my past persecution, and as blind to the Lord, as Paul. I felt all the pain of my past, bound up inextricably with all the pain that Saul, (who became St. Paul), suffered.

During Saul's conversion, the Lord called upon a disciple, Ananais: "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

In fact, Paul did suffer. He even boasts about it.  In 2 Corinthians 11: 23-27and 12: 10, Paul says: "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I have received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen ; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Who is weak and I do not feel weak?. . . .Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses. That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong!"

How much would You willingly and gracefully suffer for your faith?

Are there any Saints today? I wonder. . . . All Saints Day celebrates all saints, known and unknown. Perhaps there are more contemporary Saints than we realize. More persecution than we realize, that is not even reported. More people who have a steely bond with God, than we even notice.

The lives of the Saints inspire me deeply because I can see in their experiences all that they have suffered for me, in order that MY faith in God and MY belief in the Way can flourish today.

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