Excerpt from Saints I Know (Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission: Why Saints Are Important (by Deacon Van)


Excerpt:
Why Saints Are Important
by Deacon Van

Saints give us a model for trying to live as Christ teaches. He wants us to be kind and loving and generous and forgiving and humble and brave, to care more about giving than receiving, to want to serve instead of being served. It isn’t easy, but Christ doesn’t expect us to be perfect; he simply wants us never to stop trying.

All of the saints weren’t all those things all of the time, either. Like us, they weren’t perfect, but they had qualities that set them apart, that made them more willing—and more able—to come closer to his ideals. They all spent much of their lives serving others. Many of them gave their lives for their faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: these are the martyrs whose sacrifices move us to honor their memory.

We don’t have to look very hard to find evidence of the historic and ongoing importance of saints. Think of some of our well-known cities: St. Louis, St. Paul, St. Augustine, San Antonio, Santa Barbara, San Diego. How many churches can you think of named after saints? (They aren’t all Catholic, either—Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists also name churches for saints.)

Then, there are patron saints, products such as St. Joseph aspirin for children, St. Christopher medals, and holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day (named for St. Valentine, of course). If you have been confirmed into full communion with the Catholic church, what saint’s name did you choose to mark such an important occasion? (And on a less important note, if it weren’t for saints we wouldn’t have Halloween to celebrate: the name is shortened from All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day.)

The Church doesn’t create saints. It simply recognizes people who seem to have been moved by the Holy Spirit to do the best they can to live as Christ teaches. So, we admire saints, we even venerate them, but we don’t worship them. We don’t pray to them; we ask them to pray for us just as we ask our family and friends to pray for us.

Some saints, like St. Augustine, led less-than-holy lives when they were young, then experienced some conversion event, repented of their sins, and devoted the rest of their lives to serving the needs of others and of the Church. Augustine made no attempt to hide his earlier transgressions; in his most famous work, Confessions of St. Augustine, he describes how badly he sinned before embracing God and the teachings of his Son but gives all of us hope: “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”

Like every other Christian, St. Augustine wasn’t perfect, but he was saved.



For more information about Saints I Know, click HERE.














For more posts about Sula and her books, click HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Memoriam: Carl Don Leaver

Image
  1948-2021 It is with great sadness that MSI Press notes the death of Carl Leaver, CEO of the Press and typesetter and graphic designer par excellence . Many authors have expressed not only condolences but also a sense of legacy from covers he designed that they love.  Here is his obituary: On August 16, 2021, Carl Don Leaver of San Juan Bautista passed into eternal rest. A forester with the US Forest Service in Idaho and Montana, he turned to nature photography while working in the Bitterroot National Forest. His photographs graced national magazine covers and on a weekly basis the local paper of Hamilton, MT, the Ravalli Republican. He later worked on photography projects for the US Army (AFEES) and taught photography at the New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan. His final career change led him to computer graphics and publishing as co-owner of MSI Press LLC; his many typeset books and book covers have helped MSI Press authors win a large number of awards over the years,
Read more

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Book Marketing vs Book Promotion

Image
It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's post looks at the difference between book marketing and book promotion, two terms that are frequently confused. Leading to the confusion is that some of the same activities are needed for both. In fact, good marketing is dependent upon good promotion. Perhaps the essential difference is that marketing focuses on sales, and promotion focuses on awareness --  noting that without awareness, sales generally do not happen. Book Marketing Book marketing includes promotion, sales, and increasing awareness of the availability of the book. It generally starts with a marketing plan that identifies the target audiences and selects marketing t
Read more

Author in the news: Gregg Bagdade participates in podcast, "Chicago FireWives: Married to the Job

Image
  Gregg Bagdade, author of Mental Health Mayday , recently participated in a podcast called "Chicago FireWives: Married to the Job." Listen to it HERE . For more posts about Gregg and his book, click HERE . Award Literary Titan Gold Award Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 
Read more