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Who’s your favorite saint? Do you have one? If you’re Catholic, there’s a good chance that you do. For me, my top three are St. Therese of Lisieux, St. John XXIII and St. Bernadette Soubirous. That list, by the way, changes from month to month, and year to year. The saints serve as both our patrons and our companions. That means first, that they pray for us in heaven. Now that can sound strange to people unfamiliar with the idea, but basically when you ask for their prayers, it’s like asking for the prayers of a person on earth. Except the saints are a lot nearer to God.
They are also as examples in the Christian life. They lived different kinds of lives in different countries and different centuries. The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner said that the saint shows us what it means to be a Christian “in this particular way.” They show us that you can be yourself and be holy. You can be, as St. John XXIII said, “holy in a different way.” So have you ever asked for help from a saint? Ever asked for their prayers? Maybe now is a good time to start. And have you ever taken a saint as an example for you in the Christian life? Maybe it’s time to start that too. So the next time someone asks you who your favorite saint is you’ll be able to answer.
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