The AP release states: "Pope Benedict XVI gave Catholics four news saints Sunday, bestowing the honor on a 19th century nun who struggled in the American frontier, a bishop who tended to the wounded during the Mexican Revolution and two Italian clergy who worked with the deaf.
"French-born Mother Theodore Guerin, known for her determination, established a college for women in Indiana the 1800s. She endured harsh conditions on the American frontier and resisted the objections of a local bishop in pursuing her dream of establishing Catholic education for pioneers.
"
And so forth.
When I read that data from the Vatican, I thought to myself: What does the Bible say about saints? The answer: saints are those who profess Christ as Lord of their lives.
It is that simple a definition.
When the apostle Paul wrote letters to the churches around the Mediterranean, he frequently referred to them as "saints." Then he went on to castigate some in those congregations, while praising others.
It is also interesting to note that soon after calling his readers "saints" he started to discipline some of them for matters deficient.
That brings out the biblical understanding that saints are those who are "still in process for Christ." In other words, saints have not arrived.
Some, like most of us, are very much in process.
The upshot of this piece is that there is no such thing as "canonization of saints" in the Bible. There is no routine demanded by a church body and so forth.
Instead, it is just the opposite. It is God alone by grace who claims mortals as His saints.
The New Testament is filled with references to "saints in Christ" and all of them are those who have put aside the call of sin for the divine beckoning to life in Christ.
When a child, I frequently heard those in our local church refer to saints who were in need of prayer. Or at other times there was thanksgiving expressed to God for His deliverance of saints from various troubles. Therefore, I grew up with "saints on my mind.
" They were also right there in the pews, alongside me.
From a youth I knew these saints were people like myself. They were believers who struggled daily against the temptations of this world in order to live the sanctified life in Jesus.
Therefore, when I came to have Catholic friends who took me with them to Mass, I came to realize that the Vatican had a totally different definition of "saint." With further theological study, I then came upon the steps needed to be called a "saint" according to Rome.
However, as I continued to delve into the matter from the Word of God, I realized that God had quite a different opinion of saints than Rome.
Of course, it was the Word that convinced me that divine revelation was in truth where "it's at." After all, who can improve on the divine revelation? No one.
Consequently, I looked about me over years in the church to be so grateful to be counted in that number. None of us deserved the title but we all possessed it nevertheless. Why?
Because Christ bestowed it upon us when we committed our lives to Him, praying for His mercy upon our repentant souls.
Saints we are -- in process.
And saints forever we will be in heaven.
Thank you, Jesus, for calling us into your holy sainthood. It is not what we ever deserved; but according to the Bible it is part of the personal salvation gift you presented us when we acknowledged you as Lord.
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