Living Saints

One of the cool things about Catholicsm is it's the use of saints. By looking at saints, are are able to see real people who went through real struggles and succeeded and ended up in Heaven. We can then ask those saints for their intercessions just like we may ask a close friend to pray for us. Of course there are more saints than those recognized by the Church. Anyone who dies and goes to heaven are saints. They just haven't been "canonized" by the church. There is another type of saint though. Saint actually means, "holy person." This means that you don't even really actually have to be dead to be a saint. I'm fortunate enough to know two "living saints." These people are role models for me and people I can look up to.

One of the best decisions I ever made was asking my Aunt Joy to be my son's Godmother. Her husband, Alan (other wise known as "that guy with Joy") is his Godfather. Joy just exudes happiness---which is a good thing given her name. She is always smiling, laughing and cracking jokes. Yet, at the same time she is a very pious woman who is not shy to show her love of God. She reminds me that it's possible to be religious and still have a good sense of humor.

Another living saint I know, I happen to know because of this blog. She started reading it, befriended me on Facebook. We became closer friends on there and eventually started talking in real life. We have even since met. She is closer to my age and she'd kill me for posting this about her so I'm at not going to mention her name. I've been blessed to get to know her and talk with her as she has going through some medical issues. I've also been fortunate to get to know her daughter as well. Her courage, strength, humility and how she has dealt with her suffering through her medical issues is just incredible and I'm very proud of her. Her prayer life is also something that I look up to.

These aren't the only two living saints and these two will totally deny my "accusation" that they are living saint. But I know others too--my mother for instance--who represent all that is good and who I consider to be living saints. I'm so blessed to know these people and hope that they rub off on me and hope they put in a good word to the Big Guy for me!