The Saints Made Human

OR ARE HUMANS MADE SAINTS?

The Church canonizes certain men and women to hold them up as heroic models for us to imitate.
But somewhere along the line, we lost sight of the premise of canonization and sainthood.

"By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors (CCC 828)".

The saints are models for us based on their heroic virtue and fidelity to grace. The saints are the standard for us. But somewhere along the line, we began to flip things around and make ourselves the standard for the saints. 

Today there seems to be an excessive focus on the humanity and relatability of the saints. When we hear stories about saints, too often it is about their violent temper, their large belly, their love of adventure. These stories are not bad if they contribute to the bigger picture of who the saints are, but they are harmful when they drown out that which we are to emulate. 

The basic premise of being a saint is that you are human, with everything that goes along with it - the weakness, the vulnerability, the passion etc. We need stories to remind us of the premise so we remember that we, as humans, can do what they did.

But the conclusion to this humanity was, for these holy men and women, sainthood.  We need the stories of what they did, what made them saints. The premise without the conclusion is useless to the Christian. I see humanity and weakness in the home, in the workplace, in my social life. I look to the saints, not for more of the same, but for what should be the conclusion of my own humanity; sainthood.  We need examples, not of how to be human, but how to sanctify our humanity and offer it as a sacrifice to God.

For some time it would seem that the other extreme was taken and the saints were made out to be something other than human.  This is wrong and harmful as well and is probably what led to the over emphasis on the humanity of the saints. But when we only read about how a particular saint had a violent temper, and he is also a saint, it can make us feel good about ourselves and not inspire us to do or be anything greater.

Going back to the Catechism, there are two basic and universal criteria for sainthood, namely, heroic virtue, and fidelity to grace. Heroic virtue is recognizing what virtues you are lacking, and doing absolutely whatever it takes to grow in that virtue, regardless of the pain and at whatever cost. Fidelity to grace is responding to the grace that is given us by God. When I get off work early and I know that the Catholic Church will be open when I pass, I always remember that I could stop in for five minutes. It is a grace I receive in remembering. Some days I do stop in. But other days I decide I just want to go home. On these days, I haven't sinned, but neither was I faithful to the grace I had been given.

Heroic Virtue and Fidelity to Grace. In today's secular society both can be defined as a radical response to grace. It should be noted that a radical response to grace is not necessarily the maximum response to grace, but it is never the minimum.

The early and rapid growth of the church was largely due to the radical claims and witness of Christianity. Thousands were converted, not because of the humanity or relatability of the early Christians, but because of their radical response to the Gospel that they professed. It was taken for granted that Christians were human, just like the rest of mankind, but what struck and attracted so many was the radical way that Christians lived their lives and professed the gospel right up until what was often a gruesome death.  The blood of martyrs has always been the seed of the church.

Today, where are you called to radically respond to God's grace? Yes, it will likely be in the small everyday obligations of your state in life. But look at the saints. They remained faithful to their state in life and some of them did radical, extraordinary things. And then there are others who did no extraordinary things, other than what their state of life called them to. But what they all had in common, was that they radically fulfilled their state in life. They didn't do the minimum and they didn't try to escape reality. They lived according to their state in life, living out each single task as a loving sacrifice of love to God.