+Back in the 1990’s there was this great off Broadway play called "Late Night Catechism."
Set as an adult catechism class “Sister” is filling in for Father Murphy, who doesn’t want to miss his poker night. The play is structured around a list of saints the Vatican is reviewing…are they or aren’t they saints? –Sister reads the biography of each and then asks this question of the class: "Saint or Not a Saint?” It’s a hilarious play and I urge you to see it if you can.
So, just what defines a saint? Not surprisingly, for Anglicans, the definition is far more broad than the definition in the Roman Catholic faith. In Rome, a saint is canonized after several miracles have been attributed to the person.
Which then begs a follow-up question:
What constitutes a miracle?
Are there hard and fast rules defining what’s a miracle and what’s not? Who gets to decide?
What’s a miracle, who’s a saint?
How do we know?
Maybe it’s like the late Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter’s definition of pornography: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it?”
Maybe we know the miracles of life when we see them.
Maybe we know the saints of this world when we see them.
What are the miracles in your life?
Who are the saints you know?
Jesse was six years old when killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. While the rest of his classmates huddled in a corner, holding hands, Jesse stayed with his teacher on the other side of the room. The shooter’s gun jammed just after he shot and killed the teacher. While the gun was being reloaded, Jesse yelled: “Run!” to his classmates. And they did. They got out. And then the gunman killed Jesse. Jesse’s last act on earth ,as a six year old, was to save his classmate’s lives.
That’s a saint.
My friend Richard’s heart had been failing for years. He was kept alive by an artificial heart. Three summers ago time was running out. He needed a new heart. On September 23, 2013 Richard received that new heart and two months later he walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.
That’s a miracle.
We don’t know much of anything about the donor.
What we do know is that the donor’s family was brave enough, on the absolute worst day of their lives, to give the gift of life to 10 other people through organ donation.
The donor's family? Saints.
What makes a saint?
Well the heroic stories of Jesse and Richard’s donor certainly paint one picture of saints.
But are saints only those who give their lives for another?
Can’t we all, as the hymn goes, aim to be a saint, too?
Absolutely.
The how to guide is right there in today’s Gospel.
The reading from Luke is a portion of the Sermon on the Plain (Luke’s version of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount). In this, probably the most famous and familiar of Jesus’ sermons, Jesus lays out the ingredients of a saint when he recites the Beatitudes.
It’s clear. We're blessed when we do the right thing.
It’s as simple as that.
So, just what IS the right thing?
Well, to take a page out of Justice Potter’s book:
I think we know it when we see it, think it or live it.
Jesse Lewis lived and died it.
The donor family knew it and lived it.
Javon Smith lived it.
Javon was sitting in his apartment on Main Street in north Buffalo when he heard a horrific crash and ran outside to see the remnants of a car accident. One car was on fire with the elderly driver trapped inside. Some bystanders were trying to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. Javon and an off-duty Buffalo Police Officer sprang into action, extracting the victim from the BURNING car. Why'd he do it? Javon said because it was the right thing to do, that he didn't think, the natural instinct to help another just took over.
He’s right. The instinct to help our neighbor was knitted into our souls by God. The problem is something happened along the way and what we were created to be--- loving beings in complete harmony with this world and with God--- got derailed.
It became the exception rather than the rule.
And that's where saints come in.
The saints I've mentioned give us a glimpse into the human condition as God intended.
The saints I’ve mentioned lived, and in some cases died, following the directives outlined in the sermon on the plain.
You see, the saints lead us to where God wants us to go. Therefore, we celebrate them…they’re beacons leading us to live a life of blessing rather than a life of woe.
So, who’s a saint?
Are saints simply doctors, queens, shepherdesses on the green?
Are they only soldiers, priests and victims of fierce wild beasts?
Or are they simply folk just like you and me…folk striving to live as God intended, standing up for the oppressed, speaking out against injustice, saying no to hate and yes to Love, following the lead of those who’ve come before, helping us all to be one too?
Who blesses you?
What blesses you?
Who are your saints?
What are your miracles?
They’ve lived not only in ages past, there are hundreds of thousands still, the world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus’ will. You can meet them in Sandy Hook School, or in a hospital, or on Main Street, or in church, or at home, or at work or at play, for the saints of God are simply folks who know the right thing and do the right thing, God helping them along the way.
I don’t know about you, but I aim to be one too. Amen.
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