Study Guide to CHAPTER 13: "Now
I Get . . . The Saints"
HOW CAN YOU GET IT?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Who
is your patron saint and what can you remember about him or her?
Was
your parish named for a saint? What did this saint do?
Make
a list of a few other saints. What role did the Eucharist and other sacraments
play in the lives of these saints?
How
did the lives and goals of these saints clash with values prevalent in Western
culture today?
How
were these saints influenced positively by the people around them?
Did
these saints struggle with sin? What tools and weapons did they use to fight
sin?
What
is the communion of saints? How are we all connected?
Who is the
patron saint of cancer? Lost things? Slander? Heart ailments? Women? Babies?
Astronomy? Television?(Hint:
Answers can be found at www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron00.htm)
How
do we know that the prayers of a holy saint are even stronger than the prayer
of one of our friends? (Hint: See James 5:16)
Many
of the saints in the Early Church were martyrs. If you were called to be a
martyr right now, would your faith be strong enough?
Have
you read anything that was written by a saint? What was it?
St. Jerome: "We do not worship, we do not adore [non
colimus, non adoramus], for fear that we should bow down to the creature
rather than to the Creator, but we venerate [honoramus] the relics of
the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are."
("Ad Riparium", i, P. L., XXII, 907):
St. Cyril of Alexandria: We by no means consider the holy martyrs to
be gods, nor are we wont to bow down before them adoringly, but only
relatively and reverentially [ou latreutikos alla schetikos kai timetikos]."("Adv.
Julian.", vi, P. G. LXXVI, 812)
Martyr St. Theodore by St.
Gregory of Nyssa(P. G., XLVI, 735-48). According to Catholic
Encyclopedia: Contrasting the horror produced by an ordinary corpse
with the veneration paid to the body of a saint the preacher expatiates upon
the adornment lavished upon the building which had been erected over the
martyr's resting place, and he describes how the worshipper is led to approach
the tomb "believing that to touch it is itself a sanctification and a
blessing and if it be permitted to carry off any of the dust which has settled
upon the martyr's resting place, the dust is accounted as a great gift and the
mould as a precious treasure. And as for touching the relics themselves, if
that should ever be our happiness, only those who have experienced it and who
have had their wish gratified can know how much this is desirable and how
worthy a recompense it is of aspiring prayer" (col. 740).
1.
Saints
are real-life examples of the path to Jesus. They are human, yet they keep
their eye on the goal: Jesus Christ. Stop by the library or bookstore and pick
out a biography of a saint that interests you. View a movie or documentary
about a saint. Try to emulate that saint in some little way. Ask him or her to
pray for your special intentions. Stay loyal to your new friend, who can be of
great help to you. After all, the saints see Jesus face to face, and are
filled with love for those who need help.
2.
.A major motion film on the simple life of St. Therese Lisieux was shown
at selected theaters in 2004. The DVD is available at www.theresemovie.com.
Invite some friends over to watch. The movie is called Therese: The Story of
St. Therese of Lisieux.
3.Jot
down a prayer or writings of one of your favorite saints prayed. Keep it close
to you.
4.For special favors, there are nine-day novenas
that may be said to specific saints. Surf around the Internet and print some
out. Check out some extra strong novenas HERE.
5.
Everybody likes a road trip. Combine your next one with a visit to a shrine of
a saint. For example, if you are coming to Philadelphia, be sure to come by
the National Shrine of St. John Neumann, where the little bishop’s body
still rests. In New York, visit the Padre Pio Shrine. In Baltimore, visit the
St. Jude Shrine. In Lowell, Mass., visit the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine. In
San Francisco, visit the national shrine to St. Francis of Assisi. Here is
some information on some other Catholic Shrines in the United States. Info on
shrines near you: www.catholicshrines.net/
6.
It
is thought that God gives saints extra grace on their feast days to help
people. Check out thesaint
of the day and ask for his or her help
Catholicism - Now I Get It!