So what are the saints up to nowadays?

During November we commemorate and pray for all those who have died and in particular our own loved ones. However the month starts with a celebration of All Saints (which in many places is transferred to the following Sunday.) Who are the saints and what makes one a saint?

I seem to remember being taught as a child that saints are those really good people who have died, been recognized for their outstanding qualities and deep love of God and been formally canonized. They can be called on to intercede for us. That was what Catholics believed. And then along came Protestants and said no, we are all saints; the Bible says so. During the last few weeks the letter to the Ephesians read at daily Mass – from the Jerusalem Bible - spoke frequently of “saints”, while the Good News Bible uses the term “God's people.” Rather confusing for ordinary people.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church quoting Vatican II reminds us that all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to holiness. In my perception that is more specific and goes beyond being God's people, it involves taking some definite action. Gaudium et Spes (48) referring to marriage, states “married love is caught up into divine love, enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the Church's saving activity, thus leading the married partners to God.… filled with the spirit of Christ they grow in holiness and give glory to God together.” And my very favourite passage which I often ponder over is, “children in their own way make their parents holy.” How, exactly, on wonders!

I perceive a number of challenges there. Why are there so few canonized married saints, who could act as models and intercessors for us? It is said because no one has bothered to take up their cause. Pope John Paul II recently canonized a married couple, but it is not quite clear whether it was because of the quality of their marriage or other heroic acts.

Maybe we lay people, married and family people, don't understand and value the holiness of our calling and of our lives. Maybe we even separate our daily lives from our relationship with God, like the couple who turn the picture of the Sacred Heart to the wall when they make love.

Maybe we haven't internalized sufficiently that we are all saints in the making and that those of our loved ones who have died are not only people to be prayed for but also potential saints who can pray with us and intercede for us, together in the communion of saints.

During November many of us grieve the loss of a spouse, a parent or a child or someone else dear to us. Sometimes the sadness and loneliness seem overwhelming. At other times it is possible to begin to accept that we are still one in the communion of saints, where one day we will all be reunited in total love with God and with one another. Let that acceptance be our prayer for one another.

Toni Rowland

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE FAMILY

“Family Is Giving Soul to World,” Says Cardinal Trujillo . Zenit reports that on the 10th anniversary of the 1994 "Year of the Family," Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo wrote an article energetically defending the role and future of the family.
”The family is at the center of the decisive battle for humanity (...), at the center of the great battle between good and evil, between life and death, and to the family is entrusted the task to fight first of all to liberate the forces of good, whose source is found in Christ, redeemer of man," the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
The Cardinal recalled that even in 1994 there was an attempt to envision the end of families, in the use of the plural, avoiding the use of the singular, the family. “ He notes that ambiguities have crept into our understanding of the concept of family and into parliaments and institutions. The divine plan for marriage and the family which is a fundamental pillar of society and the Church is opposed to this. The cardinal also emphasized that "man is unique and one-and-only, he cannot separate himself from this path, the family. He comes into the world through the family and to the latter owes the fact of existing as a person.”
It is surprising that "some government leaders and parliamentarians see progress, the conquest of freedom, of democracy in a superficial hypothesis which does not see man and woman as they are and as God has willed them to be."
This reality is clear in the National Policy for Families being prepared in South Africa on which we as a Faith Based Organisation have been on invited to comment.

For me it is also rather symbolic that I have graduated with an MPhil at the end of this IYF, with my research going more deeply into the spirituality of marriage. It focused on the contribution of Marriage Encounter to enriching the spirituality of marriage in Africa. From a cultural perspective there is much more work to be done on that specific subject which I believe is often neglected. The Pontifical Council for Culture meeting in Johannesburg recently considered the topic of one family in cultural diversity and I await the outcomes, but very often it is clear that the concept of family is used in a much more general way.

Zenit recently reported that the Canadian bishops are re-visiting marriage. In its most recent notice Zenit reports that the US Bishops will be deliberating on the issue of marriage at their next meeting. In the light of the recent negative focus this is considered a teachable moment for a more positive look too.

YOUR OPINION PLEASE!

Finally, doesn't everyone knows this song, so sing and pray along :

When the saints go marching in, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.