The
Face of
Mercy / Daniel Conway
Saints walk with Jesus on life’s journey
(En Espanol)
In his weekly audience on April 7, Pope Francis shared his thoughts on the role saints play in the life of the Church. The communion of saints includes women, men and children—both living and deceased—who show us how to walk in the footsteps of Jesus in good times and hard times.
“A ‘saint’ who does not bring you to Jesus is not a saint, not even a Christian,” the Holy Father says. “A saint makes you remember Jesus Christ because he or she has journeyed along the path of life as a Christian.” We look to the saints not because they are, or were, perfect people. We look to them because they were once sinful people who repented and let the grace of Christ transform their lives.
As Pope Francis reminds us, the first person to be “canonized” a saint was a thief. “And he was canonized not by a pope, but by Jesus himself.”
Tradition names him Dismas, the Good Thief, but although we know next to nothing about him, what we do know from St. Luke’s account of the crucifixion is that while hanging on the cross next to Jesus he asked our Lord to “remember him” (Lk 23:42) when he came into his kingdom. This acknowledgment of Jesus’ Lordship confirms that he, and the other man who was crucified with him, were sinners guilty of many crimes, whereas Jesus had done nothing wrong.
As this Gospel passage illustrates, “a saint is a witness, a man or woman who encountered Jesus and followed Jesus.” We find saints of all ages, and of every conceivable temperament and skill. What they have in common is the way the encounter with Jesus changes their lives. “It is never too late to convert to the Lord, who is good and great in love,” Pope Francis says, quoting Psalm 103:8.
Only the Blessed Virgin Mary was sinless. The rest of the saints reflect our wounded humanity, the result of our first parents’ original sin. When we recognize the essential humanity of all the saints, it allows us to turn to them and seek their assistance in times of temptation or doubt.
“Saints remind us that holiness can blossom even in our lives, however weak and marked by sin,” the pope teaches.
The universal call to holiness, which was emphasized in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, becomes concrete in the lives of the saints. Their struggles with faith, with humility, with chastity and even with seemingly small sins of impatience, gossip or petty prejudices, allow us to draw closer to them. They know what it’s like to live the Christian life imperfectly. “We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world,” the pope says, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2683).
When we call on the intercession of one or more saints in our prayer, we acknowledge that death cannot separate us completely from those who have gone before us. “Saints are still here, not far away from us; and their representations in churches evoke that ‘cloud of witnesses’ that always surrounds us (Heb 12:1),” Pope Francis teaches. This is a great paradox because, as we know only too well, those who have died—saints and sinners alike—are not “still here, not far away from us” in the ordinary sense. Their closeness to us is spiritual, not corporal, but for people of faith this spiritual intimacy is very real.
“There is a mysterious solidarity in Christ between those who have already passed to the other life and we pilgrims in this one,” the Holy Father says. “Our deceased loved ones continue to take care of us from heaven. They pray for us, and we pray for them and we pray with them.”
This “mysterious solidarity” is at the heart of Christian faith. Because we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, and in his promise that we will rise again on the last day, we readily affirm that those who have gone before us remain with us, “still here, not far away from us,” in spite of all appearances to the contrary.
How blessed we are to have such a great “cloud of witnesses” intercede for us in times of need. Let’s pray for the grace to follow Jesus by walking with the saints and allowing them to stay close to us in all seasons.
(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †