Unsaintly saints
Every day it seems, if I bother to listen, I am reminded saints arise out of the most unsaintly behavior. Today, a dear friend reminded me the woman who is to be canonized as a Saint on September 11 was a woman whose faith and connection with any higher being was often non-existent. Yet, even during the lowest of times, she would ask others to pray for her and she continued to be a loving, humble woman who ministered to those who mirrored her own suffering. Even though the details of her suffering may, at times, have been different than that which encircled the life of those she served, they were, in fact, mirrors. Perhaps it is the depth of her suffering and sense of disconnection from God which allowed her to fully empathize with the suffering of others.
Within a Ted talk by the author, speaker and political activist, Courtney E. Martin entitled The New American Dream is contained the story of an important part of her lineage; a grandmother married to an alcoholic; a grandmother who birthed and raised 21 children. Ms. Martin’s willingness to honesty face the suffering and courage of this lineage is just one of the factors which has led her to be part of a revolution which has been going on for some time – a movement to redefine success in the context of community which is not “subdivided” by lawns and white pickett fences – a movement which inclusively enlarges the concept of family and makes economic and other decisions based on the needs of the family instead of on financial success or professional status.
Friday night I attended an open 12 step speaker meeting. This is a meeting for addicts who are and may want to recover; a meeting which allows some of us who are not part of that program to attend. I love attending these meetings because I know that I will hear a story of suffering and redemption. Sometimes the speaker is nervous, unsure of themselves and by academic standards not a poised, powerful or eloquent. Sometimes, as was true last night, the speaker is a bright, attractive, extremely articulate and poised person. Dale Carnegie would give her an A. Her story of addiction - the gutters and road to recovery -sometimes included years of self-righteousness and over confidence in a disconnected, independent, self-directed recovery program. Her recovery program, which is also one’s spiritual growth program, was less that consistently admirable and certainly not saintly. Yet, there she stood in this lovely building which once housed a home for a religious group, sharing her experience of intermittent, bumbling strength and hope. The story which any recovery person has to share may vary in detail, but is never one of a person who is very saintly. Yet, the speaker at a speaker meeting can be powerful because they have been to the trenches in which faith, self-respect, humility success and saintliness did not visit They are so far removed from what we consider saintly that one could not imagine them being humbly honored by no less than Pope Francis; that simple man who does not seem to be very Popish and certainly not very saintly. It seems to some that Pope Francis questions all that is considered sacred by many in the Roman Catholic church.
It should be no surprise that the saintly never become saints. In fact the concept of saint seems an oxymoron. Only the non-saints have any hope of fully understanding and ministering to suffering.
That sweet sounding, booming, confident, pious man or woman of God will never be welcomed into the cardboard tent of the homeless child or adult living in the mini-park of Los Angeles or the slice of wood like area in the some cold, snowy city or village. It is the Mother Theresas, the wife of an alcoholic with 21 children, the homeless man, woman or child who have had the courage to face their unsaintly doubts, fears, and disconnection from the we of God who has a chance of becoming a saint. It is left to them, the Mother Theresa’s, to honor the existence of all saints by standing in for them.
Written September 10, 2016
Every day it seems, if I bother to listen, I am reminded saints arise out of the most unsaintly behavior. Today, a dear friend reminded me the woman who is to be canonized as a Saint on September 11 was a woman whose faith and connection with any higher being was often non-existent. Yet, even during the lowest of times, she would ask others to pray for her and she continued to be a loving, humble woman who ministered to those who mirrored her own suffering. Even though the details of her suffering may, at times, have been different than that which encircled the life of those she served, they were, in fact, mirrors. Perhaps it is the depth of her suffering and sense of disconnection from God which allowed her to fully empathize with the suffering of others.
Within a Ted talk by the author, speaker and political activist, Courtney E. Martin entitled The New American Dream is contained the story of an important part of her lineage; a grandmother married to an alcoholic; a grandmother who birthed and raised 21 children. Ms. Martin’s willingness to honesty face the suffering and courage of this lineage is just one of the factors which has led her to be part of a revolution which has been going on for some time – a movement to redefine success in the context of community which is not “subdivided” by lawns and white pickett fences – a movement which inclusively enlarges the concept of family and makes economic and other decisions based on the needs of the family instead of on financial success or professional status.
Friday night I attended an open 12 step speaker meeting. This is a meeting for addicts who are and may want to recover; a meeting which allows some of us who are not part of that program to attend. I love attending these meetings because I know that I will hear a story of suffering and redemption. Sometimes the speaker is nervous, unsure of themselves and by academic standards not a poised, powerful or eloquent. Sometimes, as was true last night, the speaker is a bright, attractive, extremely articulate and poised person. Dale Carnegie would give her an A. Her story of addiction - the gutters and road to recovery -sometimes included years of self-righteousness and over confidence in a disconnected, independent, self-directed recovery program. Her recovery program, which is also one’s spiritual growth program, was less that consistently admirable and certainly not saintly. Yet, there she stood in this lovely building which once housed a home for a religious group, sharing her experience of intermittent, bumbling strength and hope. The story which any recovery person has to share may vary in detail, but is never one of a person who is very saintly. Yet, the speaker at a speaker meeting can be powerful because they have been to the trenches in which faith, self-respect, humility success and saintliness did not visit They are so far removed from what we consider saintly that one could not imagine them being humbly honored by no less than Pope Francis; that simple man who does not seem to be very Popish and certainly not very saintly. It seems to some that Pope Francis questions all that is considered sacred by many in the Roman Catholic church.
It should be no surprise that the saintly never become saints. In fact the concept of saint seems an oxymoron. Only the non-saints have any hope of fully understanding and ministering to suffering.
That sweet sounding, booming, confident, pious man or woman of God will never be welcomed into the cardboard tent of the homeless child or adult living in the mini-park of Los Angeles or the slice of wood like area in the some cold, snowy city or village. It is the Mother Theresas, the wife of an alcoholic with 21 children, the homeless man, woman or child who have had the courage to face their unsaintly doubts, fears, and disconnection from the we of God who has a chance of becoming a saint. It is left to them, the Mother Theresa’s, to honor the existence of all saints by standing in for them.
Written September 10, 2016
RSS Feed