Teachings of the Saints
Saints demonstrate that ”In Jesus the kingdom of God has come” (Matt. 12:28).
The kingdom of God has come
Saints who raised the dead, miraculous healings, prophecy, bilocation, stigmata, mystical knowledge, voices from heaven, miracles with animals, incorrupt bodies after death, complete fasting from food for years, and other signs from Heaven demonstrate that ”in Jesus the kingdom of God has come” (Matt. 12:28).
Signs from Heaven
A miracle is a supernatural sign or wonder, brought about by God, signifying His glory and the salvation of mankind. As a sign, a miracle is perceived by the senses and makes present the supernatural order, God’s governance of nature, and His loving plan of salvation. Miracles are a call to faith. (source: Catholic Education Resource Center)
Like the Shroud of Christ, the image of our Lady of Guadalupe, couldn’t have been painted by human hand.
When the iris in the eyes of the Virgin is widened to a scale 2,000 times the actual size, they shows highly detailed images of 13 people. The left eye and the right have different ratios, just as images do.
It is the scene in which Juan Diego brought the flowers given to him by Our Lady as a sign to Bishop Fray Juan de Zumarraga, on December 9, 1531. (source Aleteia)
Saints
To quote Christopher Dawson, christian culture is essentially a spiritual culture and it finds its supreme expression in the personalities of the saints. The practise of the Christian life in the successive ages of the Church are surprisingly relevant to the problems of our own time.
- According to the Catholic Church, a “saint” is anyone in heaven, whether recognized on Earth or not, who form the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). The communion of saints, when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, excluding therefore the damned. They are all part of a single “mystical body”, with Christ as the head, in which each member contributes to the good of all and shares in the welfare of all.
Angels are part of the communion of the saints
See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him. If you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. (Ex 23:20-22).
Gardian Angels
St-Jerome says that each human being has, by God’s loving providence, his own guardian angel. In Acts 12:15, Peter, just freed by an angel from prison, goes to Mary’s (the mother of Mark) house. While Mary is convinced she sees Peter, her houseguests tell her that she must be mistaken, and instead she might be seeing “his angel.”
Providence is made concrete through angels
Archangels have missions with regard to human history. Archangel Gabriel announced the news of the Incarnation to Mary. Archangel Michael helped St. Joan d’Arc defeat English invaders during the Hundred Years War.
Saints See the Liberty of a Sacramental Universe
Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life. Nature speaks to us of the Creator (Rom 1:20).
Saints reflect the goodness and love of God in their lives and thus can guide us to rediscover a contemplative way of seeing things, as well as the Hidden presence of sacred realities in the world.
St-Augustine wrote “Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?”
Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life. Nature speaks to us of the Creator (Rom 1:20). By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear (Hebrews 11). There is nothing that escapes this sustaining, creative care of God, for there is nothing real except through Him (Rm 8:28). St. Paul wrote about how we can know God through His creation. “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be perceived and understood in what he made.” He adds that it makes disbelief in God inexcusable.
St. Bonaventure wrote that the first two stages of the ascent to God are by contemplating Him through God’s “vestiges” in creation, and by contemplating God in His vestiges through our senses. St. Bonaventure recommended to pray and ask for God’s help to develop this contemplative outlook.
Lessons in the virtues
The seven christian virtues combine the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage (or fortitude) with the three supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. There’s no shortage of saints in heaven you can make friend with and learn lessons.
Good Samaritan – NYPD officer bought winter boots for homeless.