“Saints Preserve Us!”

          That’s what my Grandma Gallo (née O’Boyle) would exclaim with a wry smile when she got her Irish up a bit. Though a very devoted Catholic, she was quiet about her faith. You would find her at Mass every Sunday but she didn't talk about her faith much unless one of her inquisitive grandchildren peppered her with questions. I didn't think much about it at the time, but it seems that Gram had a particular devotion to the Saints too. She drove around with a Saint Christopher medal in her car (which my mother nervously gave me when I started traveling for work), she had a beautiful statue of Mary in her apartment, and she never missed an occasion to venerate the patron saint of her parents’ homeland, particularly with a beer on Saint Patrick’s Day. Gram had a tough life, so I suspect that she must have turned to the Saints for strength, comfort and wisdom. That’s what they’re there for. The Saints preserve us.

          In light of the canonizations of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, there have been countless articles published over the past few days about the popes, Saints in general and the canonization process. To be honest, very few of these articles were worth reading. Most of the articles tried unsuccessfully to explain the role of the Saints in the Catholic faith; one proposed that Saints are an anachronism that should be done away with; and one article argued that neither pope deserves to be a Saint. I’d like to respond to each of these themes.

          First, let’s make sure we understand what we mean by the word Saint. A Saint is any person who is in heaven. The word “saint” isn't restricted only to those people whom the Church has canonized (declared to be a Saint). So there are probably millions and millions of Saints that we don’t (and probably won’t) ever hear about. For example, I’m convinced that Grandma Gallo, my father and so many other friends and relatives have earned the crown of sainthood, even though Holy Mother Church may never have the occasion to consider their sainthood cause. I don’t have the power to declare it (yet), but I believe it.

          With that in mind, it’s easier to understand the role that Saints play in the Catholic faith. For Catholics, Saints are our role models. They’re our heroes – the people who won the race, who succeeded in our common goal of making it to heaven. Modern society has a lot of heroes – the people we admire and put on a pedestal, the people we say we want to grow up to be like. Well, Catholics have Saints for the same reason. That’s why we look up to the Saints. We try to emulate them so we, too, can live good lives and make it to heaven. That’s exactly why Saints are not an anachronism. We need the Saints and we need them now. We need good role models who experienced the same challenges we face in this life, who remained faithful to the truth through it all. We need examples of love and courage and faith. Their examples help us face the challenges of this world; they encourage us, sustain us and preserve us.

          Now onto the tougher issue. Whether a particular person deserves to be declared a Saint by the Church isn't an easy question to answer. The fact of the matter is that only God makes Saints, so the exercise of figuring out from our earthly perspective whether a person has made it to heaven is near impossible. The other complicating factor is that every human being is flawed. We’re not always very saintly in this life. Although we expect our heroes to be perfect, they aren't. That’s why the Church spends years studying the causes of potential Saints – the experts review reams of document to weigh the good they have done with the not so good. They’re trying to look at the whole picture of the person’s life. The Church looks at a bigger picture because God looks at an even bigger picture than that. And thank God he does. If we were judged solely on our faults, none of us would make it to heaven. If the sum of our existence is the wrong that we do, what would be the purpose of doing good in the first place? And if we had no reason to do good, well, Saints preserve us!