Points to Ponder on All Saints’ Day

SAINTS FROM BOTH EXTREMES

by Jojo Monis on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 9:33am

The diversity of ways by which the saints lived is a testament to the richness of the Church and splendor of Christian life.

 

Among the saints, we have St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the brightest minds that ever lived; we also have the Cure d’Ars who struggled in his seminary studies.

 

Among the saints, we have St. Vincent de Paul who ministered in the city; we also have St. Anthony who found sanctity in the desert.

 

We have St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a mystic, who practiced penance and mortification in a monastery; we also have St. Hildegard of Bingen, also a mystic, who was not shy about singing, and throwing flowers in praising God.

 

We have St. Augustine of Hippo who spent much of his youth in pursuit of worldly joys; we also have St. Dominic Savio, renowned in holiness though he only reached the age of 14.

 

We have St. Peter, a simple fisherman; and St. Edith Stein, a sophisticated intellectual working alongside Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, great philosophers of modern times.

 

We have St. Joan of Arc, who led an army; and St. Francis of Assissi, a man of peace.

 

We have the irascible St. Jerome (he was known to have not a few quarrels, even with some of his contemporary saints); and the almost too sweet St. Therese de Lisieux.

 

We have St. Catherine of Siena, who stood up to popes; and Pope St. Celestine V, who abdicated the papacy to go back to monastic solitude.

 

We have St. Bruno, grave and serious; and St. Philip Neri, who made a spirituality based on laughter.

 

(Borrowed liberally from Fr. Robert Barron)