FROM OUR PASTOR.....

Dear Parishioners:

Today, November 1, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, with this feast today I thought it might be good to say something about Saints.

The Catholic Church teaches that it does not, in fact, make anyone a saint. Rather, it recognizes a saint. In the Church, the title of Saint refers to a person who has been formally canonized (officially recognized) by the Catholic Church and is therefore believed to be in Heaven.

By this definition there are many people believed to be in Heaven who have not been formally declared as saints (most typically due to their obscurity and the process involved of formal canonization) but who may nevertheless generically be referred to as saints. All in Heaven are, in the technical sense, saints, since they are believed to be completely perfected in holiness. Unofficial devotions to uncanonized individuals take place in certain regions. Sometimes the word "saint" is used to refer to Christians still sojourning here on earth.

In his book, Saint of the Day, editor Leonard Foley, OFM, says this of saints: "[Saints'] surrender to God's love was so generous an approach to the total surrender of Jesus that the Church recognizes them as heroes and heroines worthy to be held up for our inspiration. They remind us that the Church is holy, can never stop being holy and is called to show the holiness of God by living the life of Christ."

In his book, Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn't and Why, author Kenneth Woodward notes the following:

A saint is always someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like -- and of what we are called to be. Only God 'makes' saints, of course. The church merely identifies from time to time a few of these for emulation. The church then tells the story. But the author is the Source of the grace by which saints live. And there we have it: A saint is someone whose story God tells.

The veneration of saints, in Latin cultus, or the "cult of the saints", describes a particular popular devotion to the saints.According to the Catholic Church, Divine Worship is properly reserved only for God and never to the saints. Saints can be asked to intercede or pray for those still on earth, just as one can ask someone on earth to pray for them.

Lastly, a few years ago I was involved in a process that the Church established to ascertain whether a person should publicly be declared a saint. I investigated whether the cure of a young woman here in Saint Louis was indeed a miracle that took place through the intercession of Bless William Joseph Chaminade. If the Congregation for the Cause of Saints believes that this cure was truly a miracle, then Father Chaminade (The Founder of the Marianist Order) will be declared a Saint of the Church.

Thus, Saints are a wonderful gift to our Church. Saints are not God, we do not pray to them, but we use them to help us in our prayer to God, they intercede for us and guide us by the example of their lives. May God bless those Saints of the Church those declared and those known to God alone.

Blessings!

Msgr. John Shamleffer