One of the attractions the Catholic Church has always held for me is the communion of saints. I don’t pretend to understand it, but it resonates with me: this group of heroes who had their own faults and failings and still overcame them to reach the prize of heaven.
In the years I’ve been Catholic, I’ve made friends with quite a few of them — there’s no shortage of friends in heaven for almost anything.
What I’ve struggled with, though — and from what I gather, I’m not alone in this — is applying the lessons of the saints to my own sloppy and messy life.
In Seven Saints for Seven Virtues (Servant Books, 2014), Jean Heimann has given readers a close-up of seven saints who are, all too often, distant in their “perfection” to those of us struggling in the pews. As a bonus, each saint is paired with a virtue and an “everyday hero” (a real-life non-saint who’s not inaccessibly holy).
I included excerpts from the chapter on St. Monica and patience (it was a game of roulette to pick: they’re ALL good!) over in my full piece at the Register. Go read it and then make sure everyone knows to get you a copy of this book for Christmas or your birthday or tomorrow. 😉
