MATTHEW 5:1-12
OUR CATHOLIC CHURCH
VENERATES SAINTS. WE DON'T WORSHIP THEM. UNTIL ABOUT THE TWELFTH
CENTURY, SAINTS WERE PEOPLE WHO HAD DONE SOMETHING WHICH CAUGHT THE
ATTENTION OF AT LEAST A FEW PEOPLE – MAYBE CURING ILLNESSES, MAYBE
BEING MARTYRED, MAYBE BEING SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARIES OR FOUNDERS OF
MONASTERIES OR DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH. SOME WERE KINGS AND QUEENS.
BUT PEOPLE SAW IN THEM SOMETHING OF JESUS CHRIST, AND BEGAN TO ASK
THE SAINT TO INTERCEDE WITH GOD. A FEW OF THESE EVENTUALLY BECAME
VENERATED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE CHURCH, AND THEY CONTINUE TO BE EVEN
TODAY – SAINT LAWRENCE, SAINT LUCY, SAINT NICHOLAS, TO NAME A FEW.
BUT IN THE TWELFTH
CENTURY MAKING SAINTS BECAME THE PREROGATIVE OF THE POPE, AND BY THE
FIFTEENTH CENTURY THE CURRENT PROCESS WAS CODIFIED. PEOPLE WHO
WEREN'T MARTYRS HAD TO HAVE LIVED LIVES WORTHY OF IMITATION AND HAD
TO HAVE TWO MIRACLES THAT HAD BEEN DECLARED AS MIRACLES BY SPECIAL
ADVISORS TO THE POPE. THE MIRACLES WERE CONSIDERED TO BE GOD'S
APPROVAL OF THE CANONIZATION. AT THAT POINT IN A SOLEMN CEREMONY THE
PERSON WAS DECLARED A SAINT. NAVIGATING THE BEAUROCRACY OF THE
VATICAN TOOK TIME AND MONEY, AND MOST OF THE SAINTS SINCE THAT TIME
HAVE BEEN MEMBERS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. SOMETIMES A DIOCESE WOULD
SPONSOR THE PROCESS FOR A PARTICULARLY NOTEWORTHY PRIEST OR BISHOP.
VERY FEW “ORDINARY” PEOPLE MADE THE CUT.
RECENTLY IN A FIRST, POPE
FRANCIS CANONIZED A MARRIED COUPLE, LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN. I THINK
THEY HAVE PARTICULAR RELEVANCE TO OUR TIME. LOUIS TRAINED AS A
WATCHMAKER, AND ZELIE WAS SKILLED IN MAKING LACE. THE TWO OF THEM
MANAGED TO MAKE A PRETTY GOOD LIVING AT THEIR TRADES, AND WERE
COMFORTABLY MIDDLE CLASS IN THE FRANCE OF THEIR TIME. THEY HAD NINE
CHILDREN, FOUR OF WHOM DIED IN EARLY CHILDHOOD. THE FIVE WHO
SURVIVED ALL BECAME NUNS, ONE OF WHOM IS SAINT THERESE OF LISEAUX,
THE LITTLE FLOWER, A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH. ONE OF HER SISTERS,
LEONIE, IS CURRENTLY A CANDIDATE FOR CANONIZATION.
ZELIE SAW LOUIS WHEN SHE
WAS CROSSING A BRIDGE, AND HEARD AN INNER VOICE TELL HER THAT HE WAS
THE ONE FOR HER. SHORTLY AFTERWARDS, THEY MET, BECAME ENGAGED, AND
MARRIED THREE MONTHS LATER. THEY WERE KNOWN AS PEOPLE WHO WOULD GO
OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HELP ANYONE WITH A PROBLEM. FROM THERESE'S
AUTOBIOGRAPHY WE KNOW THAT THEY PRESIDED OVER A VERY HAPPY HOME, BUT
ONE IN WHICH PRAYER AND DISCIPLINE WERE IMPORTANT. IN THE WAR
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, THE GERMAN ARMY BRIEFLY HELD PARTS OF
NORTHEASTERN FRANCE, DURING WHICH TIME LOUIS AND ZELIE WERE FORCED TO
ACCOMMODATE NINE GERMAN SOLDIERS IN THEIR HOME. THEY IMPRESSED THEM
BY TREATING THEM WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY, EVEN THOUGH IT MEANT
HARDSHIP FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN.
WHEN THERESE' WAS 4 AND
ONE HALF, HER MOTHER DIED OF BREAST CANCER, FROM WHICH SHE HAD
SUFFERED FOR OVER A YEAR. LOUIS SOLD HIS BUSINESS AND MOVED TO
LISEAUX. WHEN THERESE' WAS 15 AND HAD BEEN ACCEPTED TO ENTER THE
CARMELITE ORDER, LOUIS SUFFERED THE FIRST OF SEVERAL STROKES. DURING
HIS LAST FIVE YEARS HE WAS NOT ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF AND COULD
BARELY SPEAK. HE ALSO SUFFERED FROM DEMENTIA.
I THINK WE ALL CAN SEE
ASPECTS OF OUR OWN LIVES REFLECTED IN THE LIVES OF THIS COUPLE. THEY
WERE NOT CELIBATE; THEY WERE NOT POOR. THEY HAD TIMES OF JOY AND THE
BLESSING OF A CLOSE-KNIT FAMILY. THEY HAD GREAT SORROWS, WITH THE
LOSS OF FOUR CHILDREN. BOTH OF THEM WORKED IN TRADES. LOUIS LOST
HIS WIFE TO CANCER; HE HIMSELF SPENT HIS LAST YEARS INCREASINGLY
HELPLESS AND ILL.
THEIR DAUGHTERS AND
OTHERS WHO KNEW THEM DESCRIBED A COUPLE WHO LIVED EXEMPLARY LIVES AND
AN EXEMPLARY MARRIAGE. THEY ARE CERTAINLY PEOPLE WHO CAN INSPIRE
MARRIED COUPLES.
TODAY JESUS DESCRIBES HOW
TO BE BLESSED, HOW TO BE A SAINT. THERE ARE EIGHT BEATITUDES. THE
FIRST FOUR DEAL WITH CIRCUMSTANCES YOU FIND YOURSELF IN – BEING
POOR, MOURNING, BEING AT THE LOW END OF THE SOCIAL LADDER, BEING THE
OBJECT OF INJUSTICE. JESUS SAYS THAT IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU CAN
FIND BLESSINGS, AND YOU CAN BE ASSURED THAT IN GOD'S TIME THINGS WILL
BE REVERSED. THE SECOND FOUR DEAL WITH CHOICES WE MAKE, ALSO WHICH
CAN BE THE SOURCE OF BLESSINGS – BEING MERCIFUL, STRUGGLING TO
OVERCOME OUR TENDENCIES TO SIN; BEING PEACEMAKERS, AND TRYING TO
BRING ABOUT JUSTICE. AND JESUS PROMISES THAT EVEN WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE
OUR EFFORTS ARE NOT BEARING FRUIT, THEY WILL. AND HE PROMISES THAT
WHAT WE DO FOR HIS SAKE WILL NOT GO UNREWARDED, ALTHOUGH PERSECUTION
CAN BE EXPECTED, AND BEING ONE OF HIS FOLLOWERS IS NO GUARANTEE OF A
LIFETIME OF HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY – IN FACT, THE GOSPEL PASSAGE
SEEMS TO IMPLY THE OPPOSITE.
LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN
LIVED THE BEATITUDES AND AS THEY WENT THROUGH THEIR ORDINARY LIVES
ACCEPTED ALL THE JOYS AND SUFFERINGS THAT CAME THEIR WAY FOR THE SAKE
OF THE MASTER THEY SERVED. SAINT THERESE WAS TO WRITE: "GOD
GAVE ME A FATHER AND A MOTHER WHO WERE MORE WORTHY OF HEAVEN THAN OF
EARTH". SHE DESCRIBED HER PARENTS AS "PARENTS WITHOUT
EQUAL, WORTHY OF HEAVEN, HOLY GROUND PERMEATED WITH THE PERFUME OF
PURITY."
ALL OF US CATHOLICS
SHOULD PICK A FEW SAINTS TO KNOW WELL AND TO BE OUR INTERCESSORS IN
HEAVEN. IT'S GOOD TO KNOW THEM AS REAL HUMAN BEINGS WHO PUT UP WITH
THE SAME THINGS WE PUT UP WITH, WHO SUFFERED JUST AS WE WILL SUFFER,
AND WHO ARE WORTH IMITATING. SAINT PAUL URGED HIS CORINTHIAN
CONGREGATION TO BE IMITATORS OF HIM, JUST AS HE WAS AN IMITATOR OF
CHRIST. THAT'S WHAT SAINTS ARE FOR; THEY SHOW US BY THEIR LIVES HOW
TO IMITATE CHRIST..
