A young boy went to church one Sunday with his grandfather. Noticing the beautiful light pouring through stained glass windows, he asked “who are those people up in that colored glass?”
“St. Mark, St. Cecilia, St. Luke, St. Matthew, St. Hildegard and lots of others,” replied Grandpa.
When he arrived home and told his father he had seen “the saints” his dad asked him “And what exactly IS a saint ?” Without skipping a beat, the boy replied — “ A saint is somebody the light shines through.” Without realizing it, that little one shared the PERFECT definition! God created EACH ONE of us with the ability to be a saint…
All we have to do is to CLAIM THAT CALLING.
How????
We claim it by constantly KINDLING the DIVINE LIGHT WITHIN every one of us — allowing it to shine forth brightly through each interaction of our day. But doesn’t being a saint mean one has to be PERFECT???
St. Francis lived the “high life” in his youth — partying and spending money lavishly… St. Columba, who brought Christianity to Scotland, first caused a “bloody mess” at home in Ireland resulting in the deaths of several people… And, believe it or not, there is even controversy about Mother Teresa. There is no doubt about it — ALL of us are flawed human beings; even those proclaimed as “saints” had their rough edges and blind spots.
What is God’s response to that?
GRACE and FORGIVENESS
In 1929, a young British mother named Lesbia Scott (1898-1986) published a collection of hymns she had composed and sung for her own children. One of them, “I Sing A Song Of The Saints Of God,“ eventually found its way to the United States and was set to a new tune “Grand Isle” — so named for the island in Lake Champlain in Vermont where its composer, John Hopkins, Jr. (of “We Three Kings Of Orient Are” fame) lived in his retirement. Its message: There are saints everywhere you look! — and you and I can be one too. Click on this link to listen … As you do, give thanks for all the “saints” who have graced your own life — and plan to come and bring a candle to celebrate the LIGHT of their lives in our SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE this Sunday at 10:00. THEN — start spreading your OWN LIGHT!!
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