Embrace Your Inner Saint

A sermon for All Saints' Sunday under sunny skies on the patio at Faith Episcopal Church.

Celebrate the Saints – that’s what we do on this Sunday after All Saint’s Day – which was last Tuesday – November 1^st. We give them special days to remember them – like October 4 for St. Francis, February 14 for St. Valentine, etc. We name churches after them – there are lots in homage to Paul, all the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Phillip, Alban, the first martyr of Britain, Mary – actually all of them, Agnes, Dunstan, George, or for those churches who don’t want to miss anyone, All Saints.

Lot’s of saints have particular assignments – they are patron saints of countries – often a shared responsibility. Ireland, of course clings to St. Patrick, along with Brigid and Columba, Spain puts itself under the watchful eyes of Teresa of Avila and her mentor, John of Avila as well as several others while Mexico is true only to the Lady of Guadalupe. France has a whole slew of them – who are probably busy at the moment – including Joan of Arc, Saint Denis, Martin of Tours, Remigius and Therese de Lisieux. St. George and Augustine of Canterbury take turns minding England. In my book Dictionary of Saints, the US is listed as being under the wings of the Immaculate Conception – now that seems a bit strange to me but maybe it accounts for our obsession with sex.

Another job for saints is to look after particular professions. This is really fun! Of course, here, the occupation or some act of saint is usually why the affiliation is made. Joseph of Arimathea, who had Jesus buried in his newly purchased tomb, is the patron saint of funeral directors. For his work translating the New Testament into Latin late in the 4^th century as well as writing enough to fill a library, Jerome is the patron saint of libraries. He is said to have been a very disagreeable person and was probably the first one to shush people who talked too loud. George the dragonslayer is a busy guy, patron of England, Portugal, and Germany as well as several cities, and the Boy Scouts. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of police and firefighters thanks to his job as winner of the cosmic battle in the book of Revelation. Here’s a good one – Genesius was a notary serving in a court in what is now France in the late 3^rd century when he refused to record the order from the Emperor calling for the persecution of Christians. When it was read in court he denounced it to the judge, after fleeing, he was eventually caught and beheaded. He became the patron saint of lawyers.

St. Cecilia, the patron of music, was such a pious young lady that during her wedding feast, she was so focused on God and not her groom that she sat off by herself singing to God. Children, it will be no surprise to learn, live in the generous embrace of St. Nicholas. For some unknown reason, Benedict is the patron saint of poisoning. Raymond Nonnatus is the saint for those falsely accused – more people call upon him than probably have any right to. Antony of Padua is the saint of lost objects, just plain Antony (and not Francis) is the saint for our pets and Jude is for lost causes – maybe that means that Max has two.

There’s a complicated process to become a saint. The first thing you have to do is die, an unfortunate but irrefutable requirement. The local bishop begins the investigation into the potential saint’s life and writings for evidence of heroic virtue. He sends his report to Rome where it is evaluated. If that works out well, the pope proclaims that the candidate is venerable or a model of virtue. The next step is beatification which requires a posthumous miracle. Once beatified, our saint wanabee is known as Blessed So-and-So. At least one more posthumous miracle is required to finally be canonized and gain the title of Saint. In recent years, more saints have been produced than at any time in the history of the church. It’s all the rage right now in Rome. Traditional waiting periods have been suspended and people are being fast-tracked to sainthood so that line from our beloved hymn “…for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.” Is looking more and more doable – if only we were Catholic!

This morning, as we sit outside, I would like to propose that we have all indulged our inner child for long enough and it is now time to embrace our inner saint. Be the saint that you need in any given moment. Be Francis and give away more than you buy. Before taking a test, embrace your inner Thomas Aquinas, just know that you are brilliant. When you are overwhelmed by busyness, become Anthony and retreat into the desert of silence. When you are sick, be Julian of Norwich and know that any pain or suffering unites you to everyone else who has ever suffered – in those moments you are most in touch with the suffering on the cross. Always be Stephen or Perpetua, unafraid of death. But mostly, every morning, embrace the joy that sets saints apart, the joy of knowing God’s love and committing yourself to it. Laugh, run, sing, dance, ski, pick flowers and shout life’s joys from the rooftops – when you’re a saint, you can do anything!