Along the Way: Why We Need Saints

by

December 7, 2023 

We have just begun begin a new Christian year. It is not only the commencement of the retelling of the Gospel story in its various seasons, it is also the telling of it in the lives of the saints. The Christian year has both Scripture lessons and saint readings. It is one of the things that moved me to use ‘Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals’ this coming year; it combines both narratives. Our monthly gatherings with the ordinary radicals on social media will further strengthen the scripture/saint combination.

Preparing for the new Christian year, I have revisited this question: why do we need saints? Here are some of the reasons that I have discovered as I study their lives….

To keep faith real (whole-life, down-to-earth spirituality)

To keep faith rooted (vs. falling prey to “the cult of the contemporary”)

To keep faith reflective (“let your life speak”)

To keep faith relevant (“serving the present age”)

To keep faith risky (exploratory: “ask, seek, knock”)

To keep faith resilient (strength to face challenges)

To keep faith renewing (faith maturing in depth and breadth)

These reasons surely apply to living saints, not just historic ones. And lest we forget, we are all saints. The term is not limited to those institutionally canonized. We all run our race in the community of the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). Some are in the Church visible; others are in the Church invisible. We must not fall prey to the pseudo-spirituality John Wesley described as “holy solitaries.” Rather, we must experience life together.

When we allow the saints to form us, we do not become copies of them. They would abhor that. Instead, we become in our day what they were in theirs: faithful followers of Jesus. Doing that, we join with them in the line of faithful witness.

I invite you to journey with the saints in this new Christian year. Historically, we have a variety of ways to do this. The Book of Common Prayer has a calendar of the saints, and you can easily learn more about them online. Franciscan Media has the “Saint of the Day” free e-letter to which you can subscribe. In book form, Woodeene Koenig Bricker’ ‘365 Saints’ is excellent. So too is Patrick McCloskey’s ‘Saint of the Day’ (8th edition). However, you choose to do it, I hope the saints will be traveling companions with you.