WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN

Now that we’ve finished celebrating Halloween, it’s time to move on to one of my favorite holy days of the year,  All Saints Day.

All Saints Day is a holy day in the Catholic Church that celebrates ALL saints… that goes for the big names like St. Joseph, St. Anthony, and St. Therese Lieusux (all my favorites), and it also celebrates those who are unknown or who haven’t been honored as saints. We often ask them to intercede for us in our prayers and our needs. Poor Saint Anthony, I’m always bugging that guy to help me find my keys and whatever else this scatterbrain had misplaced.

I’ve also discovered a great prayer to St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) :

“Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer. And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray. Pray to the Lord, because even God needs our prayers.”

I mean, who doesn’t feel the loneliness of life sometimes?

And then there are the “unknowns”….those saints that have never been officially beatified or recognized by the church as “official saints”. Nonetheless, there are plenty out there who have died while in the service of God. For instance, there are five Catholic nuns from the Adorers of the Blood of Christ Order who were rendering humanitarian services to orphans in Monrovia whose parents were killed in the civil war there. They were brutally raped and murdered by rebels in the 1992 “Operation Octopus” launched by disbanded National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). These “Saints” names are; Sr. Barbara Ann Muttra, ASC, Sr. Shirley Kolmer, ASC, Sr. Joel Kolmer, ASC, Sr. Agnes Mueller, ASC and Kachleen McGuire, ASC gave their lives in order to protect the young children in the village.

These brave Sisters  knew their lives were in danger…I know this because my cousin was one of the nuns that was living with them in Monrovia but was able to get out just a few weeks before this happened. She told me the stories of how the rebels would pound on the door of the convent in the middle of the night and wave their guns around and make threats. The incidents of this happening were increasing so the Mother Superior told them to close up shop and get out of there. Unfortunately, not all of them made it out in time. My cousin is now semi-retired and living in the Mother House in St. Louis. I think of her as a living saint, not only for the many years of work that she did while in Liberia, but for all that she continues to do for others now that she is here.

Oh,  and I would like to add this.  As I was writing this post I received a comment from someone on the post I wrote last Sunday…my “rant”.   This person (Trish) made that old washed out claim that nuns were treated as “second-class” citizens by the Church.   To me that is an insult to every nun within the Catholic Church who have given up their lives to serve God.  There is NOTHING “second class” about being a nun and those who make this claim are doing all women a disservice when they make such ridiculous arguments.

Yup…there’s plenty of saints out there and today is their day! Think of it like Veteran’s Day for Saints. We’re honoring all who have served God, living and dead. This is the Communion of Saints and I hope that one day I can be counted in that number!

Oh when the Saints…Come marching in…Oh when the Saints come marching in….

Have a great day everyone!