While I was out and about speaking on the women saints and blesseds this week, a woman asked a question. In essence, she wanted to know why anyone should care about a bunch of people who lived a long time ago, especially a bunch of people no one had ever heard of.
I found the question a little amusing, not only because seven of the ten women I’d spoken about lived in the twentieth century (including two during my own lifetime) but because saints are such a rich part of the Catholic faith. Saints are what we’re all called to 
be. Saints like Therese of Lisieux and Teresa of Avila are known to a wide swath of humanity, Catholic and non-Catholic. Other saints, canonized or not, may be known to few, but that does not diminish their heroic virtues in the slightest. They include family members and friends and neighbors and mentors who inspired us, who helped us at a difficult time. They include the canonized who aren’t household names. They include women like Blessed Marianna Biernacka, who was not a religious scholar or mystic but who 
gave up her life for her pregnant daughter-in-law without a second thought when the Gestapo came calling to her Polish town during World War II.
The Catholic Church has more than 10,000 saints. No matter what your challenge–as a parent, a child, a working person, a busy executive, a public speaker, a writer, an artist, a singer–you can find one who lived your walk. You can find one who’d like to hear about your joys and sorrows, who’d like to get to know you and intercede on your behalf. Of course you can always talk directly to any member of the Trinity. But for me and many people like me, it’s comforting to know that just as one might process different aspects of life with different earthly friends, the saints are waiting to help you do the same.
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