Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Matthew 5:3-5
Piety
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good
From the lyrics to “For Good” in Wicked by Stephen Schwartz (Book by Winnie Holzman)
Study
Saints – major and minor -- are not only intercessors who address our personal needs but they also are examples of Christian holiness. When we study the saints, they come into our lives so we get a better understanding of who is there to help us and what heroic virtues have directed their lives.
We have some super great saints. Saint Mary. Saint Peter. Saint John. Saint Luke.
We have doctors of the church. Saint Augustine, Pope Gregory I, Saint Jerome, and Saint Ambrose. We also have women who have been so canonized. St. Hildegard of Bingen. St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Teresa of Avila. St. Catherine of Siena.
We have those who started major religious orders. St. Benedict. St. Francis of Assisi. St. Dominic. St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta.
We have martyrs. St. Stephen. Blessed Oscar Romero. Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, O.F. M. and Rev. Jacques Hamel (the priest killed in the 2016 Normandy church attack).
We also have some saints who are important to many people for various reasons. St. Nicholas. St. Alphonsus Rodriguez. Maximilian Kolbe (Polish Franciscan, died at Auschwitz), 1941. Edith Stein (Carmelite nun, died at Auschwitz), 1942. Maximilian Kolbe (Polish Franciscan, died at Auschwitz), 1941.
We also have our modern, American popular culture “saints” like Father Mychal Judge, OFM, Saint Of 9/11. He was the humble chaplain who died when the World Trade Center fell on him while he was caring for the injured and dead.
Shortly after his death, an NYPD lieutenant found Judge's body. He and two firemen, an FDNY emergency medical technician detailed to the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and one civilian bystander then carried Judge's body out of the North Tower. This event was captured in the documentary film 9/11. Shannon Stapleton, a photographer from Reuters, photographed Judge's body being carried out of the rubble by the five men. It became one of the most famous images related to 9/11. The Philadelphia Weekly reported that the photograph is "considered an American Pietà."
Judge's body was laid before the altar of St. Peter’s Catholic Church before being taken to the medical examiner. There have been calls within the Roman Catholic Church to canonize Judge. While there is no indication that Rome is seriously considering this, several churches independent of Rome, most notably the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, have declared him a saint. Some leaders recognize Judge as a de facto saint.
Some are not saints yet but must attain or pass through status as Servants of God while their cause is being evaluated. One who is in such status is Venerable Fr. Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus. Others include the four American churchwomen who were raped and murdered in (ironically) El Salvador: Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan.
Another is Dorothy Day, Obl.S.B. (November 8, 1897) Servant of God Dorothy Day who tried to find a way to bring together her religious faith and her radical social values.
Action
As we study the saints, we can be changed for the good. When Servant of God, Dorothy Day was confronted by the faithful who did not share her support for the poor she had a quick rejoinder. If they asked her: Didn't Jesus say that the poor would be with us always?
"Yes," Day once replied, "but we are not content that there should be so many of them. The class structure is our making and by our consent, not God's, and we must do what we can to change it. We are urging revolutionary change." To this day, her relevant actions as both Saint and Troublemaker urged people to a revolution of the heart.
Her basic message was stunningly simple: we are called by God to love one another as He loves us. Love one another. No exceptions. Later this month we will mark two dates. First, next Wednesday will be the 120th anniversary of her birth. Then on November 29, we will mark 37 years ago since she died in 1980.
Fr. Judge’s favorite prayer might be one that aptly fits Dorothy Day or you: Lord, Take me where you want me to go, Let me meet who you want me to meet, Tell me what you want me to say and Keep me out of your way. Amen.
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