Our Friends, the Saints

What is your idea of happiness? Try to picture it. Maybe it is sitting on a warm beach with a cold drink in your hand; or spending time in nature, in the forest or the mountains; or about to sit down to a holiday meal. Pretty nice, huh? But now imagine that you’re alone – no friends, no family members, no relatives. That takes away some of the enjoyment, doesn’t it?

As human beings, we are innately social creatures. It is part of our nature to engage with our fellow human beings – to cooperate, to care for, to learn from and enjoy. To be sure, we all need and want “alone time” at times, but generally we need the companionship and solidarity of others. Our happiness here on earth– our flourishing as human beings – depends upon our association with others.

We don’t just need other people for happiness here on earth; we also need them to get to heaven. None of us can get there on our own. First and foremost, of course, we need Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, through whom God has made it possible for us to be friends with him. Every grace that we receive and any spiritual merit that we have is the free gift of God given to us in recognition of his what his Son has done on our behalf.

While friendship with Jesus is what saves us, God desires to give us even more. He gives us the love of Mary, who besides her Son is our greatest helper and example. And, especially important for today, he also gives us the friendship of all of Christ’s friends, those whom we call the saints: the men and women up and down the ages who, though human like us, fulfilled the Lord’s will for their lives and so attained both happiness and holiness.

We have a tendency sometimes to think of the saints as relics of history, distant and unrelatable; yes, they were holy, but that holiness feels very far off from our reality, more like an idea than an example. That’s a mistake. The saints may have lived in times and places different from our own, but the fundamental human condition has not changed. They were much more like us than we might expect. We should think of them instead as our heavenly friends, real persons who walked this earth and who knew what it was like to struggle in the same ways that we do. And as the friends of Christ, as those who are with him in heaven, they not only provide us with an example but are ready to help us along our way.

The Holy Trinity and the Saints in Glory (c. 1735) by Sebastiano Conca

Like our earthly friends, we need the heavenly friendship of the saints both in good times and in challenging ones. In good times, the saints can help us grow in wisdom, learning more about their lives and how they sought holiness according to the circumstances of their day. By their example, we can understand more fully the call to holiness the Lord has given to each of us. And when times are more difficult, the saints do the same thing but they also intercede for us, helping us to receive the particular gifts that God gave to them in their journeys. That’s why, for example, St. Rita and St. Monica are great intercessors in difficult marriage and family situations, and St. Augustine or St. Vitalis of Gaza for those who struggle with purity, and St. Dymphna or St. Therese of Lisieux for those suffering from anxiety or fear. St. Francis can teach us about poverty of spirit; St. Teresa of Avila, how to pray; St. Isidore the Farmer, how to find God in your daily labors. 

And lest we think that all the saints lived long ago, some of the most powerful stories are those who lived in our own times. St. Gianna Beretta Molla teaches us about the value of self-sacrifice, when she refused to abort her child even though it meant her own death from cancer. Blessed Chiara Badano, born just a decade before me, showed us how to suffer illness joyfully. St. Josemaría Escrivá, a priest, wrote short aphorisms on how to find God in daily life. St. John Paul II, the great pope, was also a great disciple, showing us how to live one’s vocation as an adventure with Christ. I’d be remiss not to mention also Fr. Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus and just beatified yesterday, who surely has a lot to teach the Catholic men of today about the importance of helping immigrant families and living out an authentic Catholic faith in the face of injustice. 

The point, my friends, is that whatever your need or interest, there is a saint for you – there is a friend for you, waiting to guide and help you. Because greater than any image or idea of earthly happiness is the eternal joy of the saints in heaven. Jesus invites us to share in that – each of us, individually. But we don’t pursue that call by ourselves; we do it together, as the Body of Christ, and especially with the heavenly help of our friends, the saints. 

As we prepare for the Sacrament of the Altar, may their example and intercession encourage us to keep striving, that one day we may join their company.