“Our fulcrum is God: our lever,
prayer; prayer which burns with love.
With that we can lift the world!”
– St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Who among us could use a friend to walk with, to learn from, and to be called to live better? Different seasons in our lives require us to seek new opportunities for comfort and conviction.
On November 1, the Church will celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints Day. This day is a great gift to the faithful so we can remember all the many holy men, women, and children who are known to be in Heaven with God. They came from different places, lived different vocations, and walked different paths of holiness. They lit the way to Heaven for us and showed us what true friendship with God can look like. Their witness and holiness were not solely for themselves but were meant to call others to holiness too. With their incredible diversity, we can find friends among the saints for any of the seasons of our lives.
Consider a new challenge this November 1st –
Read about some saints, pray with them, and invite them personally into your life in such a way that you walk intentionally with one saint a month for this coming year.
My family and I enrolled in the Be a Saint Kids Club through Catholic Sprouts. It has been such a wonderful challenge that they offered for families to walk with one saint per month. It has been a real boost for my family and has given us some perfect things to increase our prayer and faith life. We feel like we are adding friends into our family because the saints can truly be our friends.
The club invites us to learn about the saints so that their life’s witness can inspire us. There are many places where you can learn about the saints. Check out library books on the saints or look in a saints book you already have at home. Read their biography and watch good videos from Formed.org, YouTube.com, or other video sources. After all, we cannot make friends with a stranger we know nothing about. The more we learn the more we can reflect the values and specific aspects of that Saint’s journey to Heaven.
The Catholic Sprouts club issues four challenges per month that imitate that saint’s walk of faith. For instance, this month we were walking with St. Therese of Lisieux. In honor of her special “Little Way” of love and holiness, we are challenged to pray a Rosary each week, to memorize a prayer (Hail Holy Queen), to do simple things with great love, and to write a thank you letter to our parents for the gift of faith they share with us. Each of these challenges allows the saint’s witness to transform us closer to Christ through her charisms and gifts.
You can join Catholic Sprouts in their almost daily podcast for the challenges and sharing about the month’s selected saint. These challenges and kids club had available for purchase a physical booklet, which is sadly sold out for the time being, but their inspiration and format could be done on your own through prayer and learning about the saints. After reading about the saint, pray about him or her and discuss it with your family; and perfect ideas will come from the discussion that will be geared for your family. Let each family member pick a favorite saint or a new one they want to learn about and create your own experience with the saints. Place a picture of the saint in your house to give you a visual reminder of them being a part of your family’s life. Include them in your daily prayers asking for their inspiration and intercession. Consider inviting extended family into the journey as a special generational encounter together.
Another wonderful way for adults could be to choose a saint to stay with for an entire year. You could really go deep and grow an amazing relationship with a new dear Saintly friend. You could check out this article for more inspiration from someone who was taking this very walk with a saint for a year.
“We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.”
St. Clare of Assisi
Let us allow the Saints to truly be our friends for they themselves lived on this Earth like us. They shared in similar crosses and joys that we encounter today. They were given a crown of holiness and want to invite us to live our lives for that same gift of true holiness. May our intentional strolling with them enflame our hearts with greater love for them and ultimately for God. For, like the first quote from St. Thérèse, we can with God’s power and with our prayer lift the world. Let us yearn for holiness through the power of God, the steadfastness of our prayer and the fellowship with the Saints.
“Our goal must be infinite, not the finite.
The infinite is our homeland.
Heaven has been waiting for us forever.”
Blessed Carlo Acutis
All Holy Saints of God, pray for us and for the whole world!
References:
St. Thérèse quote retrieved from https://www.littleflower.org/st-therese/st-therese-quotes/
St. Clare and Blessed Carlo quotes retrieved https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/holy-quotes-from-catholic-saints
