This Sunday our Holy Father Pope Francis will canonize five new saints. Much as I wrote earlier when I discussed other new saints from last year, the big names St. Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero, can overshadow the “smaller” saints. I point this out because the stories of these men and women who are recognized for the heroic virtue are powerful and teach us many things. Pope Francis will elevate five people to sainthood. The big name is John Henry Newman a 19th century convert to Catholicism who was a great thinker and writer who helped to shape the intellectual discourse of the Catholic Church for the century to come.
Who are the other saints? Well they are four women: three religious sisters and the fourth was a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Marguerite Bays was a dressmaker by trade and her biography tells us she spent her entire life working as a dedicated lay person in her parish and never left her own neighborhood. A simple woman who received a miraculous healing and experienced a mystical union with God. We are reminded by her life how much we, through being dedicated to our faith and sharing it with joy, can have great effect in both our family, our parish and in our communities. Recognizing how sharing our faith in creating a Catholic culture within our own families and neighborhoods we evangelize the joyful presence of God’s grace.
Sr. Dulce Lopes Pontes was a member of the congregation of the missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. (That is one long name for a congregation) With that being said, this 20th century saint, much like St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was known for her service to the poorest of the poor in her native Brazil. A woman of humble service she worked to bring dignity, especially through healthcare, to all people. Her work in founding a charitable organization, which annually serves over 3.5 million people, “famously began with just 70 patients, a chicken coop, and one determined nun.” (see link below) Sr. Dulce reminds us of how small seeds planted with great care and love often lead us to God’s blessings beyond imagination.
Sr. Giuseppina Vannini is the founder of the Daughters of Saint Camillus who in her short life, she died at 51, was an example of charity and sacrifice. Orphaned at an early age she chose to enter religious life and eventually decided to found a religious order whose work was caring for the sick and elderly.
Sr. Mariam Thresia was born in Thresia Mankidiyan in Kerala, India. Raised in the Syro-Malabar Rite of the Catholic Church, one of many Eastern Rite Churches in union with the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Congregation of the Holy Family where she and her sisters dedicated their lives to praying for the repentance of sinners and carrying for orphans and the poor. Sr. Marian Thresia died at the age of 50 after having received the gift of the stigmata (the wounds of Jesus)
When I read the short biographies of each of these holy women I was reminded of three marks of each of their lives:
They each had a deep love for God’s people, especially the poor and vulnerable. Each of them chose to do small things with great love. The lesson we can learn is, while we may not be called to the consecrated life or the priesthood, we are all called to seek God in serving the other in our life. How do we seek to serve God in our daily lives may be the question these soon to be saints would ask?
You don’t need to go far to serve God. These four future saints pretty much stayed at home. None of them were missionaries going far and wide to find how best to serve God. Blessed Marguerite never left her “neighborhood” and she and each of these woman changed the lives of so many people around the world. Who in your “neighborhood”, at home, work, school or wherever needs the blessing of a good neighbor?
Lastly…yes you guessed it, each was a person with a deep and profound prayer life. Each found their call to vocation through prayer. They each persevered through the trial of life through prayer. They each rediscovered their mission over and over again through a deep and personal conversation in prayer with God. This didn’t happen by accident but rather through seeking and finding God in prayer. Do you take time in prayer each day to share with God your life?
The links below are short biographies of these five soon to be saints.
God Bless
Fr. Mark
http://www.savior.org/saints/bays.htm
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