The Saints in My Life - Why I Love the Saints
The Saints in My Life
“May I stay in constant presence and intimate union with Christ.” —St.Teresa of Avila
Imagine that! Words like these draw me into the lives of the saints and ignite my heart to want to know more, learn and imitate their devotion, their practice, and their meditations.
The saints lived ordinary lives like you and me but with the passion for living this life on earth in constant union with Christ. What does that mean? To me, it means surrendering my will to God’s divine will, allowing my daily life to flow and activate all that I am for the Glory of God.
It does not mean sitting in a cave and meditating all day (although there are many days that I dream of just that). It means being fully alive, being fully who I was born to be in the very moment. The saints teach me how to live fully and show me the tools to bring me back on the path when the “dark nights of the soul” hit hard. Yes, I just said “dark nights of the soul.” We all know those days that seem to consume us, and we fall into bed and ask, “Dear Jesus, please let me wake up feeling renewed and refreshed… press the restart button…" What I love about admitting this truth is that we are not alone! You and I experience many of the same things, and guess what… so did many saints! They had miraculous moments, amazing moments, flooded with love, but they also had those dark moments when they must have thought to themselves that they couldn’t make it one more day!
What they did during those dark moments is what intrigues me. They dove deeper into their devotion, they surrendered (didn’t try to fix anything), they were still in their suffering, confusion, anxiety, and handed it over to Jesus on the Cross, and then they sat. They allowed Christ to hold, comfort, and eventually restore them. This is what I find transformational.
YES, I love the Saints
YES, I want to be a Saint, and YES, you, too, are called to be a Saint. In the words of St. Catherine of Siena and St. John Paul II, “If you are what you are meant to be, you will set the whole world on fire.”
Although I love them all, I am most inspired by the miracle workers and the mystics because they lived with one foot on earth and the other in heaven. With undeniable conviction, they allowed God to work through them, and they became a conduit of light and healing. They performed acts of wonder that convinced many that God is real, prayer really does work, and that love heals!
Some of My Favorites!
St. Teresa of Avila would go into deep meditation and encounter Christ, and her heart was literally lanced by His burning love! She taught all the sisters in the convent to pray with their hearts and to fall in love with the love of God! They began to live every day with greater joy and could hear, yes, actually hear, God, talking to them and guiding their daily activities!
St. Padre Pio I love that he lived in my lifetime and that he had the gift of bi-location! On many occasions, he was in Germany guiding soldiers to safety and dragging them out of the wreckage while he was at the same time in his Monastery in Italy! In addition, he had the instant gift of speaking 4 or 5 languages so that he could hear confession and give absolution in the confessor's native tongue!
St. Francis De Sales He left behind one of the most amazing tools, a book on how to live a devout life as a layperson.
I don’t know how many days I have here on this earth. I hope many. However, I believe in learning from others to expedite my goal to reach heaven. Learning from the saints is not just a stairway to heaven. I consider it my escalator!
I also love that I am able to wear St. Benedict’s medal every day and that he has become one of our official heroes! St. Benedict taught us all to make God’s love visible through all that is true, good, and beautiful, and he reminds us that beauty amplifies God’s love! St. Benedict also reminds us to “Ora de Labore,” to work and pray, that one’s prayer life is interweaved into their work life, and there is no separation.
—Amy D'Ambra/MSMH Founder and Co-Owner