Sal Castenada
The Saints Among Us
Two summers ago, I was sent to Guatemala by Mundelein Seminary to take part in an eight week-long course that involved living with a family to help enrich my Spanish skills. During my time there, I remember meeting a widow who had lost her husband in a car accident two years prior. After this incident, the widow was left to support three children on her own, one of which suffered from a debilitating mental illness. Despite all these challenges, she hung tough and started working at a hospital where she translated documents into English. One day as she was working, she read that there was an American who had lost all his memory due to a head injury. Unfortunately, the man had no family and was unable to pay for his medical expenses. In turn, the hospital left him in the street to fend for himself. Upon reading this the woman took him into her home and became his caregiver.
Beyond this heroic example, this encounter made me realize something incredibly powerful that I was not fully aware of beforehand. It was the realization that God is truly building up saints among us to inspire others to persevere in their own journey of faith. These spiritual heroes we call saints are those men and women who fought the good fight with the grace of God (1 Tim 6:12). Even though they did not know all the right answers when they lived among us, they were willing to trust in God to carry them through life’s challenges. I hope this reality inspires us to accept our own crosses in life that invite us to trust in God’s wisdom and love. Indeed, as Christians we are all baptized and confirmed to live this heroic witness despite the cost like Christ did.
In ordinary life our crosses usually present themselves as challenges to foster healthy relationships. As people of faith striving for holiness, Jesus gives us this twofold challenge: to “love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-38). In regard to the first part of our Lord’s challenge, I think it’s easy to let prayer become secondary when it should be primary in our lives. Furthermore, it’s easy to put our work before God by not taking the time to nourish our spiritual lives by educating ourselves (e.g. reading good Catholic spiritual books, listening to Catholic podcasts, etc.) about the faith so that we can be inspired to grow in prayer and relationship with God. In terms of the second, it can be difficult to live up to our responsibilities toward our spouse, children, colleagues, employees, etc. Moreover, it can be especially difficult to be generous with those relationships. It’s harder when we are called to love others joyfully and generously as if we’re the ones receiving the love. The good news is that Jesus accompanies us in this struggle and can help us to overcome these common challenges.
Lastly, I think it’s very curious that the Church places All Saints Day, towards the end of the liturgical year, especially if one acknowledges the fact that most saints were never born into who they came to be. It’s as if the Church is trying to tell us that holiness is a work of art that requires time, effort, and love. With this understanding, let us hold this month of November as a special time to improve our faith lives and relationships with others so that we can become the spiritual heroes God wants us to be.
