MY LIFE WITH THE SAINTS

Pick up a stack of prayer cards of saints and you’ll notice that few are smiling. Most are martyrs who devoted their lives to prayer, worked to care for the sick and destitute, or died horrific deaths defending tenets of the Catholic Church. Mel Brooks’ HISTORY OF THE WORLD deprecates church traditions, but you can’t help laughing at the hyperbole-- monks diving off of cliffs or priests who stutter or speak with a lisp.

Reading about the saints does not seem fun or enticing. But pick up a copy of MY LIFE WITH THE SAINTS by James Martin, SJ, and you’ll love the storytelling, the wisdom and humor, and the manner in which this Jesuit priest and scholar viewed the saints during his life to help him survive spiritual and human struggles.

At twenty-eight, a graduate of Wharton and an executive at General Electric, dissatisfied with his life in the business world, Martin, inspired by viewing a PBS program about the Catholic priest Thomas Merton, joined the Jesuit order. Like those of us Catholics who pray to favorite saints, Martin discovered that his fellow Jesuits also developed strong devotions to their favorite saints. He began to read biographies of the saints and reflect upon their places in history, their sense of humor [Pope John XXIII}, their courage [Joan of Arc], their intelligence and will [St. Theresa of Lisieux- the Little Flower].

The book is organized chronologically, and each of the eighteen chapters is devoted to a specific saint. Read about poor Bernadette, who was chosen by the Virgin Mary to deliver a warning to the world, and no one believed her. Or Pope John XXIII who, when asked by a reporter how many people worked at the Vatican, responded, “About half of them.” [Read THE WIT AND WISDOM OF GOOD POPE JOHN].

St. Peter’s shortcomings and St. Francis of Assisi’s dissolute youth will help you understand the human condition and the struggles ordinary men endured before God touched them and helped them to be really good people.

Martin reminds us that we don’t have to live in a cave and pray all day or work with the poor in Uganda to achieve sanctity. He speculates that God wants us to be ourselves. He reminds us that the Second Vatican Council discusses “the universal call to holiness” which means that ordinary people can grow closer to God and achieve moments of special grace. Martin offers this text as an encouragement “ in our journey with the saints.”

I read this book, a chapter a week, on Friday mornings. While not a page turner, it is very educational and inspirational.