THE SAINTS BEHOLD US

One Sunday morning (when else?) over a plate of scrambled eggs with extra crispy French Fries in a diner, TLW (The Little Woman) and I got into a discussion about saints. Being a woman with strong beliefs, saintly attitudes and martyrdom, (being married to you know who), she has a strong vested interest in saints and saintly attitudes, or all things saintly.

St. Francis of Assisi

We discussed the old days when our mom’s would pray to saints, and each mother had a special ‘go-to’ saint they used. Her mom, Helen prayed to St. Anthony, and my mom I think really favored St. Theresa, naming my older sister (much older) after her. Mom also favored St. Anthony and even St Joseph. These extra saints are the results of having given birth to me, and the need for more than one saint for divine intervention. She has since interviewed many more saints hoping to find the right mix.

St. Anthony of Padua

TLW related to me how she was made to kneel along with her three sibs, in front of the couch to pray for something lost, and would invoke the influence of St. Anthony of Padua to maybe put in a good word with God.

I asked her how come people would pray to a dead saint when they should be praying to God directly, and she explained to me that people do that because they feel unworthy to talk directly to God to seek special favors or help. After all, God is busy, has a full plate and can’t be bothered with every mundane thing that crosses the transom as a heavenly matter. That is why we have saints, because everything gets departmentalized. Now this is the Catholic God, who is not unlike the Protestant God in that matter. The Jewish God is another story. I guess the poor Jews have been put through so much in this world that they deserve a direct line to God.

As a child in third grade at Our Lady of Lourdes elementary school on Aberdeen Street in Brooklyn, NY, I was given the honor one Friday to carry the statue of the Virgin Mary home in a cloth sack to have the family kneel around it and pray to. This ‘honor’ was given to each of us in Mrs. Walsh’s all-boy’s classroom. They separated the boys from the girls at the school I guess to avoid unwanted or unexplainable pregnancies. Since I got the statue on a Friday, that meant that I would have to pray not only Friday, but Saturday and after going to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night as well! This was really asking me for a lot. As I walked home, I was wondering how I was going to get my dad out of from under the TV to kneel and pray with us. I knew Mom would, but Dad never went to church, and gave up on prayer years ago when the Dodgers started losing regularly to the Yankees in the World Series every year. Getting home, I took the kitchen chair out from under the table, made the announcement that we were praying, placed the statue of the chair and knelt to pray. Mom was kind of staring at me strangely, Tessie my older sister (much older) stood in shock, and Dad was still watching Friday night boxing on our little Olympic TV!  I decided to stop because the only one who looked or acted normal was my father!

St. Jude

TLW was the one that made the conversation most relevant when one year we were scheduled to go to Los Angeles with #2 Son. It was the night before and as we got ready we were looking for #2 Son’s license since it would be his only means of ID for the airport security. We had been looking for weeks in anticipation of the trip. I was content to leave him at home but TLW knew better! As I sat in my chair watching the TV, TLW suddenly drops to her knees in front of the couch, (partially blocking my view) and starts to make the sign of the cross and prays! She signs off and rises to her feet, and marches off upstairs to #2 Son’s room, where she comes down less than 3 minutes later, ceremoniously carrying the license in two hands like a sacred relic above her head, her eyes raised. I was almost tempted to drop on my knees: it was that kind of a miracle!

St. Joseph of Holbrook

Now there are many saints, some owning the same name, some duplicating the same tasks! Some of the tasks are mundane, some are monumental and some are ordinary, some saints represent towns, cities and events. Yes, there is a saint for everything in the Catholic Church.  Every place has a saint, and every saint has a place! This is the philosophy of the One True Holy and Roman Catholic Universal Church etc. One may wonder why the saints, why not go to Jesus then, after all he has a place, his named invoked many times out of surprise, frustration and even happiness. If that happened, a lot of dead saints would be out of business, and a lot of statues would have to be removed. That would be too much work, not practical and would require more collections at Mass to cover the expenses, or larger pledges with larger envelopes from the unholy such as I.

By the time you are finished reading this, I should have been swept away by lightning, or a large rock, had fallen on my unholy head.