A Modern-Day Saint

One of my favorite traditions in Roman Catholicism is the veneration of the saints. I think I love them for rather naive and for deeply spiritual reasons. On the one hand, I think they satisfy a certain fascination with all things supernatural. In many ways, they seem like the comic book heros of my youth (oh wait, "youth"? - let's just say my fascination with Marvel's favorite mutants has blossomed with the extra free time I've had since graduation): everyone has their favorite, they each have their own special "powers", yet they're guided by the same principles. Those principles are part of what draws me to them. Not only are they larger-than-life, they exemplify characteristics that are so attainable, the true source of their prominent place in the church. They are both human and something more. While superheros and saints exemplify some different virtues, they're all generally good ones, ones I aspire to.

This morning I listened to a story on NPR about Miep Gies, one of the Dutch women who helped hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during WWII. She died this week. She preserved Anne's diary, which no doubt you've read. Years after the fact, this brave woman always insisted that her actions didn't involve any kind of extraordinary virtue. She said she didn't want people to believe that her actions would be insuperable if faced by you and me. As I heard the remembrance of her this morning, I could only think of how this woman was like a saint. She exemplified virtue in her actions, yet we can look to her as fully human. Not everyone will think the Roman Catholic saints exemplify the virtues that they hold most dear, but we undoubtedly have one of the most established traditions of remembering those who inspire us. Who is your favorite saint (canonized or uncanonized)?

Gies




This is a bit of folk art I created for David that I call "The Patron Saints of Scrabble":