Chapter 13 The Power Of The Saints

Today’s episode is a bit different. I will be reading a chapter from my book, Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace. Today’s chapter is called The Power of The Saints. I hope you enjoy it!

I love the saints! We can learn so much from them. I think we tend to put the saints on a pedestal and think that they were perfect and that we can’t really learn anything from them because they weren’t like ordinary people. We tend to think their lives were easy and they didn’t struggle with the things that we struggle with so we can’t relate to them. I am not sure how much you know about the saints, but I am not sure any of them had it easy and I know for sure that none of them were perfect because no one on earth is perfect. We are all human and we all struggle with human behaviors and sins. No matter what you are going through, there is probably a saint that has gone through the same thing in their life.

If you are struggling with parenting, or if you have a child who has turned away from the faith, and/ or is getting into all sorts of trouble you could look to Saint Monica. She is the mother of St. Augustine. Saint Augustine is a doctor of the Church now, but before the age of 31 he was known for running around with women and having mistresses. His mother would not give up on him and his conversion. She prayed for him and his conversion everyday.

Saint Monica was a Christian, but her parents married her off to a pagan. He husband wasn’t all bad, but he did have a violent temper and he was promiscuous. Saint Monica also had a mother in law that lived with them that was bad tempered and uncooperative. Even though her husband criticized her for her faith, she never gave up on praying for him and his mother. Her prayers finally proved fruitful and her husband and mother in law both became Christians. Her husband died one year after his baptism.

If you are struggling with a past that you are not proud of you could look to St. Augustine, or Saint Mary of Egypt who ran away from home at 12 and spent her years living on the streets as a seductress. She did her best to sleep with as many young Christian boys as she could. One day she went with some men to Jerusalem. They were on the way to see the life-giving Tree of the Cross that was being shown at the temple. She pushed to the front of the line, but when she tried to step over the threshold she could not get in. It was as if there was an invisible barrier was preventing her from getting in. She tried this several times and the same thing would happen.

Mary was too tired to keep trying to get in. She stepped aside and just stood there. She wondered why she could not get in. Suddenly she felt the word salvation and it occurred to her why she was not allowed into the temple. Her unclean lifestyle was the reason she could not enter the holy place. Upon realizing this she because to cry and was filled with grief and sorrow.

While she was standing there she looked up and saw an icon of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She begged Mary to let her into the temple to see the Tree of the life-giving Cross. She promised Mary as soon as she had seen the cross she would no longer take part in her unclean lifestyle and that she would renounce the world and its temptations. Mother Mary allowed her to enter and once she left that temple she crossed the Jordon and lived by herself in the dessert.

Maybe you are the mother of boys and you are not sure how to lead them with love through all their difficulties. You can turn to St. John Bosco who took care of all the boys in his town, most of them lived on the streets. He had them in church every Sunday. He never yelled at the boys he just loved them.

If you are struggling to forgive someone who has hurt you unforgivably you can turn to St. Maria Goretti. She was a child of about 12 I think when her neighbor tried to rape her. She tried to convince him that God did not want him to do that to her. He took out a knife and stabbed her several times because she refused to let him rape her. She was rushed to the hospital and before she died, she forgave him.

Are you struggling with a lack of faith? Do your prayers feel unanswered, or maybe you can’t even pray right now? Maybe you feel a complete lack of faith, and feel as though there may not even be a God. You could look to Mother Teresa. Most people do not know a lot about her story. She had a deeply personal encounter with Jesus on a train early in her religious life. She had a vision of Jesus and she told Jesus that she would do whatever he asked of her.

As time went on she began to feel this deep darkness. Almost as if she were in a pit. She did not feel the love of Jesus, she did not feel anything. She was such a powerful ambassador for God’s love, and yet she did not feel any of that love. This did not just go on for a year or so it went on for a very long time. She experienced this darkness for over half her life. She knew that there was a God because of her encounter on the train. However, she did not feel this for such a long time. She would go to her spiritual advisor and tell him she felt nothing. If you are struggling with your faith, you are not alone. Look to St. Teresa of Calcutta to see what she did and how she dealt with her struggles.

I was listening to The Jeff Cavins Show Podcast one day and he was talking about how everyone should have a saints posse. A group of saints that you can really get to know well. You can read about them and get to know who they really were, the good and the bad. They could be a like a group of friends that you rely on. You can talk with them, maybe start your mornings with them.

He said he got a small medal for each one of the saints in his posse and that he wears them around his neck so that they are always with him. That necklace can also serve as a reminder throughout the day of the person that you want to strive to be. I have photo cards of the saints in my posse on the wall by my desk. I see them every morning. Sometime I say hello and ask them to help me throughout the day and sometimes I forget. I also have a necklace with several medals on it as well.

I love this idea of having a group of saints that you can pray too. There are more than 10,000 saints that are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. That would be a lot to learn if you learned about each one of them. However, if you focused on the saints that had similar struggles as you, that number would be more manageable. I have already talked about a few saints at the beginning of this chapter, there is not enough room in this book to talk about all my favorite saints, so I will finish with three of the saints in my posse.

St. Maximillion Kolbe is my patron saint, meaning he died on my birthday. I was told, that whether we know it or not, we have a special connection with the saint that is honored on your birthday. Before learning this, I had already been introduced to St. Maximillion Kolbe through the Marian Consecration that I participated in. Kolbe dedicated himself to bringing the whole world to know God through Jesus under the guidance of Mary. He started a newspaper called the Immaculate that was widely distributed throughout Poland.

St. Maximillion Kolbe was not always a well behaved child. One time when he was young he got into some some trouble at school. His mother told him that “She did not know what would become of him.” This shook him to the core. He went into their home prayer area and prayed. Mother Mary appeared to him holding two crowns, the white crown of purity and a red crown of martyrdom. She asked him which crown he wanted and he chose both.

He did a lot of amazing things in his life. One of the most amazing was when St. Maximillion Kolbe was put into a concentration camp. One of the prisoners in his cell block escaped. In order to deter that from happening again, the guards randomly picked 10 prisoners left in that block and sentenced them to death by starvation. One of the men that they picked was a husband and father and he begged for mercy. St. Maximillion Kolbe volunteered to take his place. It is reported that he sang songs and praised God the whole time he was waiting to die. Kolbe lasted more than 14 days in a starvation bunker with no food or water. The Nazi’s finally killed him on August 14, 1941 by lethal injection.

Saint Teresa of Liseux is know as the little flower. She was always saying that she was too little to do anything on her own. She told Jesus that she would do anything that he wanted her to do, but that she would need Him to lift her up. She said it was as if she was at the bottom of a huge staircase and that she was too little to even climb up one step. But that if she could climb in Jesus’s hand and he could be her elevator and lift her to the next step.

A lot of people relate to Saint Teresa of Liseux because it is easy to feel like we can’t do much. It is easy to relate to someone who was called to do more, but felt she wasn’t capable. Saint Teresa is known for her “little ways” of trusting in Jesus to make her holy and relying on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds. I think people like this idea because it is a way to holiness through your ordinary life. Saint Teresa did not go on mission trips, she was a cloistered nun, she did not go out into the community to help the poor. She made lots of small sacrifices throughout the day and she did it without complaining and often without recognition.

Saint Rita of Cascia, I just love her. Saint Rita is known as, “The Saint of the impossible.” Saint Rita wanted to become a nun, but her parents did not like that idea. Saint Rita got married to a man from a prominent family in her town. He was not a nice man and she struggled with not wanting to stay in the marriage. However, she kept praying for him and eventually he left that lifestyle. The two of them moved away from his family and they had twin boys. They were finally living a happy life, when her husband was murdered. Saint Rita forgave her husband’s attackers publicly at the funeral because she was afraid her sons would seek revenge.

Saint Rita ended up sending her boys away to try to keep them safe. However, they got sick where they were and they died. She was very sad that they had died, and also relieved that they died of natural causes and did not have the stain of murder on their souls.

Rita wanted to joint the Augustinian convent but her applications were always denied. She was not able to join until God stepped in and cleared a way an obstacles. Saint Rita once asked for a rose from the garden to be brought to her. The only problem was that it was the middle of winter. The person she requested it from went down to the rose bush and to her surprise she found a rose in full bloom. This same thing happened one time when Saint Rita requested a fig from the fig tree.

Saint Rita loved the Lord and she never gave up her faith in him. She had plenty of heart ache in her life and she certainly did not have an easy life. She had plenty of reasons why she could have given up her faith in God. She had plenty of chances to blame God for the terrible things that happened in her life. She did not do either of these. She continued her pursuit to follow His will with all that she had.

As I said earlier, I could go on about the saints for an entire series of books. I just love them. I love how much they loved the Lord. I love how dedicated they were to their mission. I know we could learn so much from them if we took the time to read about them. I remember how uncomfortable it felt to read in the Marian Consecration book that we are all called to be saints. I was not sure I was up to that challenge. However, reading about the saints gives me hope that if I just keep doing the next right thing, I can get there some day. What saint are you going to start learning about?

Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you would like to buy my book you can get it on Amazon or on my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. If you would like me to write you a personalized message you can order it from my website and I will sign it before I send it out to you. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow! Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day and may the favor and Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, I say to you, here I am. And oh, how I love to hear you respond, here I am, back to me.”

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace