Devotion to Saints goes back to the early Christian period and is found in the Creed that we proclaim today, "I believe in the Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins ..."
Giving honor to the Saints as we do on feast days celebrates the holiness of men and women who followed Jesus their Lord. They are models for us on earth. Their lives, their writings, their ways of faith, show us what sort of life true Christians can live when they follow Christ.
We honor civic people every day to show us how, through their heroic lives, we can live as true citizens. Honoring Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Kennedy, Susan B Anthony, sitting bull, Martin Luther King, Jr., mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill and other famous leaders is a way of recognizing their gift to humanity.
In the same way, we honor St. Paul, Peter, the apostles, and the holy men and women of Scripture. We honor St. Benedict, Francis of Assisi, Augustine, Ambrose, Aquinas, and a whole host of holy men and women throughout Christian history.
Devotion to the Saints is more than honoring, however. Devotion to the Saints recognizes that they have a share in the membership of Christ. As members of the body of Christ, they are one with Christ. Take for example, Peter and Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. Because they were one with Christ, many cures were attributed to them. Of course, Jesus, the Head of the Body of Christ, cure the sick and expel demons through his members; such as Paul, Peter, and the apostles. Scripture also shows that Jesus, through these members of his body, would care people even when Peter and Paul word within touching distance of the sick:
They even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mattresses so that has Peter came by, at the least his shadow my overshadow some of them. (Acts 5:15).
God worked many miracles by the hands of Paul. In some cases, bits of linen and clothing from his body were taken to people who work, and their diseases went away from them and the evil spirits went out.
The people who came to Peter and Paul in the New Testament are no different than those who come to Saints today. We come to holy members of the body of Christ who, through Jesus the head, have the ability to heal. So I'm asked, "Why don't Catholics just go to Christ himself?" The answer is, "We do." As long as Saints Paul, Peter, and all the rest are members of the body of Christ (for what is the head without the body?) we are coming to Christ. In addition, going to the Saints in prayer always concludes with, "We ask this through Christ our Lord."
The fact is, St. Paul tells us to intercede for one another, to pray for one another. Recognizing that Jesus is the great intercessor and mediator, all members of his body have a share in his intercession. A Christian's intercessory prayer, in union with Christ as the head, is quite powerful!
Rose of St. Mary would often go to Mary, the Queen of all Saints, disciple of the Lord par excellence, and to her favorites, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Dominic.
Rose would often visit the chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary at the church of Santo Domingo. It was there that she had received the blessing of her name. Her Lord expected her to carry the name of Rose and, at the same time, honor his mother. Thus, Rose of St. Mary, would show devotion to the Queen of All Saints. On many occasions, in the chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, Rose would be found in a prayer of ecstasy. She, like many saints before, would be so struck with the power of the love of God that she was incapable of moving. In fact people who witnessed her in the spiritual state would be unable to move her or gain her attention.
St. Dominic, the famous founder of the Order of Preachers and patron of the parish church Rose attended, would also have a tremendous influence on her. In her early years, she begged Dominic to give her the choice of entering is order. She wanted to bring, as he did, thousands of people to Christ. She was struck by his gift of preaching and longed to share pearls that would move the people of Lima to be one with Jesus our Lord. Unable to enter the Dominican convent, her mother agreed to let Rose join the Third Order of Dominicans.
Perhaps the one saint Rose admired the most was St. Catherine of Siena. Catherine was a powerful woman. She deliberately told Popes, Queens, and Kings how to behave. She was spontaneous, unafraid of authority and fearless in the face of death. She was a Dominican religious, like Rose, who corresponded with popes and peasants alike.
Born in 1347, at Siena, Italy, St. Catherine lived through the Black death, famine and numerous civil wars. During her lifetime the papal residents moved from Rome to have Avignon and back again and the great western schism pitted pope against anti-pope. Wanting Pope Gregory XI to leave his residency in Avignon and return to Rome, and knowing the supreme pontiff was afraid of being poisoned, Catherine wrote to him, "be not a timorous child, but manly ..."
As she grew up, Catherine loved her quiet prayer. She became a Third Order Dominican when she was 16. For years, she had visions of Christ, Mary and the saints. For a number of years, she only spoke to God and to her professor. On one occasion, she had a vision of herself as a bride of Christ, and saw the infant Jesus giving her a wedding ring. Her spiritual life led her to tend to the sick, to serve the poor and work for the conversion of sinners.
If the life of St. Rose of Lima seem similar to the life of Catherine of Siena (including her ability to be stubborn), it is no coincidence. Rose so wanted to model her life after Catherine that she would ask yourself, "what would Catherine do?" When confronted with a situation.
Devotion to the Saints only led Rose to a deeper relationship with Christ our Lord. She was happy to know his faithful members, talk with them, love with them, and eventually travel with them to the kingdom of heaven.
Rose of the Saints,
You called on the friends and Mother of Jesus to help you in your time of need. I ask you, my friend in heaven, to beg our Lord Jesus to be with me always. Help me, through your example, to walk closer with Jesus and his Church, the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, I love you with all of my heart, all of my soul, and all of my strength. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment