PATRON SAINTS 

OF SECRET SAINTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of All Saints is, “Patron Saints of Secret Saints.”

The message of my homily is the call to all of us to be holy - to be saints - but not the type of saint - everyone knows - the canonized ones - but the ones God only knows - the secret saints.[1]

The message of my homily is the call to be a secret saint - to be a patron saint of secret saints - which is a paradox and a contradiction. It’s sort of  like wanting to be buried as the “unknown soldier”.

A QUOTE

Let me begin with a quote by John C. Cort, from his book, The Grail, August 1957. Never heard of him. The quote:  “Only God knows how many married saints there have been. Perhaps when and if we get to heaven we may find that some of the brightest jewels in His crown are obscure husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, that nobody paid any attention to here on earth.”

DID WE SHOOT OURSELVES IN THE FOOT?

Did we shoot ourselves in the foot - us Catholics - with our stress on the Saints - Saints with the capital letter “S”?

Did we make a mistake when we put saints on pedestals?

Did we make a mistake when we came up with the canonization process?

Did that sort of stress the impossible in Saints - and we the ordinary Joe or Mary in the benches and trenches - could not possibly be or become a Saint?

In the Early Church holy people were simply proclaimed “Holy” by the crowd. Time told us who some of the holy people were - but what about all the others - those people who were with us - those people as my quote put it - who were, “obscure husband and wives, fathers and mothers, that nobody paid any attention to here on earth.”

I would add that some of those moms and dads, husbands and wives, were known to be wonderful people by their other half as well as their family. We have our family favorites - those who gave us love and understanding, help and hope - because we met them in real life.

I like the canonization process that takes place at the funeral parlor - not in the obituary or the eulogy - but in the funeral parlor - not even on the comments of people - but sometimes yes - but in the minds of those who knew the person who died.

How many people have we heard described as, “another mother teresa in small letters” - because they were always doing for others - or  “Jolly Saint Nick” - a someone who brought us Christmas feelings in July and February - or another “Saint Christopher” - someone who picked the kids up after school and soccer practice - 1,500 times” - and on and on and on.

I think that is somewhat the gist of a song by Danielle Rose called, "The Saint That Is Just Me".

SUFI  SECRET

Or does it really matter?

I remember reading somewhere that it’s a practice amongst Sufi’s - sometimes described as the spirituality side of Islam - that the secret of life is to be a secret saint - someone who is in God and nobody but God knows - and perhaps at times - the saint.

Jesus certainly was off on that practice - way before Islam. He told us to pray in our inner room - where nobody sees us. Last Sunday he told us about the mind set of two different people who went up to the temple to pray - and how God honored the person in the back - in the corner - not the show off - up front - the Pharisee.

Tassels, bells, whistles, public posturing - are not something Jesus stressed - but he did stress union with his Father in secret - acts of charity - in which our right hand doesn’t know what our left hand is doing - so the secret in being a saint - is what Jesus stressed.

I like to picture my dad in the basement - alone - cellar door closed  - and I slip down there silently - down the cellar stairs - and I see him sitting there smoking his pipe and saying his rosary - in the evening after work.

I like to picture my mom in the living room - alone - quietly - going through her prayer book - fat with death cards - remembering her connections and her memories.

I like to picture all the meals - all the giving - all the sacrifices - they made for me.

I like to think of all the nuns’ retreats I gave - many of which were at Motherhouse convents - which always had a big grave yard - with all the same stones - and I would walk through those cemeteries - standing on holy ground - nuns who gave their lives - many for children - without children of their own - whom I believe are with God - and their lives was an act of faith in the reality of the resurrection of the dead - in Christ - much more powerful than any creed that states, “And I believe in the resurrection…..”

CONCLUSION

So on All Saints Day - we celebrate all the Saints - all the Holy People who have gone before us - whom we believe will be waiting for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

NOTES:

[1] Cf. Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter 5; Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church the Modern Word, # 1, Opening of Preface and the rest of the document.