What I Love About the Saints of the Church

Perseverance, Faith, Depth of Soul and Reason, But Not Perfect

Many Protestants love to bash the Catholic faith about our saints, praying to saints, that it's not directly in scripture.  Then again I have to point out, there is much that is not directly given in scripture, such as the words Trinity, Communion and Last Rites.  However, through a deep, profound prayer life, diligent interconnection of scriptures, looking at the culture of the times, oral traditions passed down in the Eastern and Orthodox faith, we can come to understand much about the Church, the culture of the Church, its' truths, given by the apostles, as all could not be written down, the Bible tells us that.   Saints are a part of the Bible, tradition, even in a sense Jewish tradition, Orthodox Jewish tradition, that's right Orthodox Jewish tradition. Why do I love saints and am going to be delving more into saints, their lives?

Saints tell me God doesn't expect perfect, but he does expect a continuous work in progress, and for me to be very aware that I am a work in progress, who requires help not to sin, fall into sin, due to the sin nature.  They also tell me that with prayer, with that awareness, development of a good, sacred relationship with the Holy Trinity, I can make progress, be perfect no, but progress.  Saints like St. Monica, they teach me about perseverance, praying for years for her son to turn his sinful life around and he did, became a saint of the church, dedicated to living a holy life, to the study of the Gospel and living the teachings of Christ.  Saints like St. Andrew, the patron saint of my mother's town can teach me about honor, doing what is right and walking away from what is wrong, corrupt.  He was a lawyer, but when he was asked to lie and manipulate to win cases, when that started to come into play, he walked away from that profession.  He wouldn't compromise what were principles of honor, ethics etc... for money or career.  They were loyal to the faith, to the teachings of fixed ethics, morals and many were loyal to the point of life and death to the truth of the Gospel, and the Church, knowing it was truth.  I love in them that dedication, loyalty to God's truth, surrender to it, not violence against others, for a true holy person never seeks violence against others, for that is misguided, but surrenders to the full truth of the Gospel and is firm in loyalty to the truth of the Magisterium understanding it is a representative of Christ, the apostolic lineage, full, expansive, holistic understanding of the bible through reason, faith, philosophy, via the Holy Spirit inspiring and directing.

Saints are guideposts, road maps  to look to throughout life, not as perfection, but as works in progress and potential for what that means, what that is  and can be when in prayer, in study, in truth.  They are example of courage, fortitude, love, and so much more, who live in heaven in sublime peace, and love, able to advocate for us with perfect clarity, along with the Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  The bible tells us that angels and saints pray for us, even for those that did harm in heaven and I have included some links as reference to this point.   Having re-discovered truth, I look to Christ, the Holy Spirit, as well as the saints for advocacy to the Father for all my needs, hopes, dreams. 

http://completelybiblical.blogspot.com/2009/01/saints-pray-for-us.html
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-intercession-of-the-saints
http://www.angelfire.com/home/protestantchallenges/saints.html

Shalom and Amen