By Mother Ann Marie Zierke, M.S.
“I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine.”
I tried to start my lesson with my high-schoolers by getting their attention.
“He loves the outdoors; he is from a well-known family. In his free time, he can usually be found helping the poor or hanging out with his friends.”
At this point in the lecture, the students were starting to get excited: “Do we know him?” one student asked. “Is he from around here?” By now they were turning in their desks and looking at the classroom door, hoping to see someone walk in.
“You might know him, but no he isn’t from around here. His is name is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.” I made the announcement with great enthusiasm, but the disappointment in the room was obvious. The grumbling audible.
“Oh, we thought it was someone real,” a student yelled from the back.
Real? To me, saints are some of the most real people in my life. I have always had a great love for saints. They were ever-present in the statues that adorned our local parish church. The holy cards tucked into the bedroom mirror of my childhood home kept me ever aware of the goal I was entrusted with by my family and faith – to get to Heaven.
I love learning about new saints, I love to journey with the Church as these holy brothers and sisters move from servant of God, to blessed and finally the canonization ceremony. I love how they make me feel as if I have a cheering section in heaven. I love that there is a saint dedicated to every need or any situation I might find myself in. St. Joseph protects our house, St. Thomas inspires our students, and St. Francis helps us to evangelize.
The saints are our bothers and sisters in Christ. They have lived the life we are all called to live and have struggled with the same temptations we have struggled with. They, by definition, have lived lives of heroic virtue. They are just like us. They have received the same sacraments and lived the same life of grace that we all strive for.
With the advancement of the causes of more American-born Catholics, it is wonderful to keep their inspiration ever before of us: Michele Duppong from North Dakota; Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who had his own TV show; Blessed Joseph Dutton, who worked in Hawaii with St. Damian and the lepers. We share with them not just a faith but a common national heritage as well.
Everyone was so excited when Pope Leo XIV was elected and was an American. So many comments were made about our mutual experiences because of our American heritage and how unique it is to have this connection. But that tie can only go so far. Our American heritage, while old, is quite new compared to the ancient substance of our Catholic faith. Our belief in Jesus, our shared Catholic Faith, is much older and much deeper than having watched the same cartoons, or eaten the same snacks (as cool as that might be). My shared experience of reading the same scriptures and attending the same Mass make me just as close to St. Francis of Assisi, St. Maria Goretti and now St. Pier Giorgio Frassiti.
During the celebration of All Saint’s Day, I encourage us all to look for those common experiences of faith that we can share with so many of our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us. They are just as real as our newly canonized saints and our own living examples of heroic virtue.
