Over at the Standard and at Home…

Going to mass today, I felt the presence of Heaven, of family, of friends I miss.  It made me consider the question, who are your friends in Heaven?

A colleague at work asked me about praying to the saints, not understanding why we would petition people who are deceased.  As Catholics, we know that the saints pray with us and for us, and that their souls are with the Holy Trinity in heaven, while the remains of their bodies (relics), remain here.   After explaining that we ask the people in Heaven to accompany us in our petitions, to seek with us the graces we need to grow closer to God, he thanked me and asked for examples.

Where to begin?

Saint Anthony intends for me to be a receptionist for him, as compensation for all the times I’ve asked him to find my keys, my purse, my shoes, one sock, five minutes of free time, the right words, my patience, and that one paper I was supposed to not lose.   My kids swear I have him on speed dial.   I thought about how often Saint Therese of Lisieux offers her wisdom to my day, with all the applications of “Do little things with great love,” and how I’ll be going about my day, and Saint Faustina likes to interrupt my busyness around three, if I happen to catch the Divine Mercy Chaplet on the radio.

The saints are my friends, and different ones have taken ascendancy in my “favorites” at different times of my life. Saint Paul hears me when I’m fussing about a writing project.  Saint Elizabeth Seton has been on call about teaching.  Saint Martin of Tours, named after our parish, holds a dear spot and gets a weekly request to watch over us, and Saint Monica sometimes gets asked when dealing with teenagers. The Blessed Mother handles a whole litany of needs, not the least of which is holding my hand in this year since my own mother passed, and Saint Joseph is there protecting my family, sheltering us all when the world feels troubling on every front.

It felt hard not to smile, knowing all these very real people were ever present, praying with me, praying for me and those I brought to prayer.  Their witness strengthened mine.    My friend understood and thanked me for explaining the reality of the saints, and the purpose of asking for their intercession.

We would have no trouble asking others in our lives to pray for us when we face a crisis.  We would seek out people of faith and ask them to add their prayers to ours.  Asking the saints is doing the same, and knowing that they have a deeper relationship than us, we can be assured that the prayers have their efficacious consequences on our souls, even if the answers we want, aren’t the answers we receive.

At home, the conversation reverberated. Praying with the saints, reminds us to also pray for all the deceased, who are not dead but sleeping.   I thought of my mom and dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends I’ve lost along the way.  These people I could both pray for and ask to pray for me. It felt very comforting to ask them to pray, and to be able to offer something in return.   I miss them all.

It was both a form of grieving and celebrating all these people I’ve loved, and became in my heart, my own personal litany and the promise of seeing all those people one day again, face to face, was a glimpse of the joy yet to come. It’s still November, it’s still the time we are to spend praying for the dead.

Resolve to become better friends with the saints, and to pray with and for those you love who have died.  They will in turn, help you become better friends with God.