Today is All Saint's Day in the Catholic church. The definition of All Saint's Day, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, is "Solemnity celebrated on the first of November. It is instituted to honor all the saints, known and unknown..." I really like the "known and unknown" part, because I imagine there are countless "saints" among us, toiling in anonymity, just doing what they do every day, which is taking care of others and glorifying God in all that they do.
In his homily today, Father Pat said that saints weren't perfect people; in fact, they were the opposite. In many cases, their rough edges had to be knocked off by life, and they made many mistakes. He said there is, within all of us, two possibilities; we can choose to act like a swine, or we can choose to act like a saint. We all make mistakes, and we all make wrong choices at times. He said what makes a saint different is that they always have God in mind, and they made the right choice when it counted.
I think the practice of bestowing sainthood on a person is, at best, ironic. The people in our world deserving of the label "saint" are the last ones who would want it. Take Mother Teresa, for instance. The woman chose to take care of the poorest of the poor for fifty years, in God's name, all the while never feeling His presence within her. Her smile hid her inner turmoil, her doubts and her depression. She epitomized faith. I doubt very much that she would care whether or not she is officially a saint one day, yet she probably will be. I'm not sure if her greatest act was caring for others, or operating on faith, but I sometimes think it's the latter.
Saint or swine? As always, it's our choice.
