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I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did? - St. Teresa of Calcutta
We’ve met, over the last 4 weeks, 22 different women saints celebrated in the Catholic Church. Like the Church today, these women are a varying bunch found in all stations of life. They are mothers, daughters, doctors, slaves, scholars, and nuns. They hail from across the globe, including France, Italy, Sudan, and Macedonia.
They are women who loved: first and foremost they loved God. It was through this love of God that they were then able to love their neighbors. Imagine how much love is present when it simply spills out onto neighbors. This is how it is with the saints. The love of God spilling out onto the saints’ families, persecutors, and fellow Christians! The women we have just met loved the unloved and brought hope to the hopeless.
All of this, for the love of God.
Faced with such beauty, such intense devotion I have to ask the question of my myself. How much do I love God? I can only answer like the father of the paralytic in Mark, “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!”
Gloriously, mercifully, he does help. Oftentimes, this help comes from the saints.
For, as Thomas Aquinas says, “The greater the charity of the Saints in their heavenly home, the more they intercede for those who are still on their journey and the more they can help them by their prayers; the more they are united with God, the more effective those prayers are. This is in accordance with Divine order, which makes higher things react upon lower things, like the brightness of the sun filling the atmosphere.”
It is my sincere hope, and everyone here at Heart of Mary Women’s Fellowship joins me, that you met a friend this past month. A fellow lover of God that you can look up to and ask for help from. What a wondrous mercy that God has given us - a church that is not constrained by the bounds of this world!
Reflect: Is there a particular saint that stood out to you? Do you keep “running into” this saint? What appeals to you about this saint?
Reflect: The basis of all heroic virtue exemplified by the saints is love for God. Ask God to help you love Him more. Are there ways in your regular day-to-day life, that you can share the love of God? What might this look like (hint: the answer is rarely found in grand gestures)?
Act: Buy or borrow a book about the saint that seems to calling to you. Read the book prayerfully and get to know this saint.
