Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

CNN reported today The Roman Catholic Church has placed Pope John Paul II on the path to possible sainthood during a solemn ceremony at a Roman basilica — the fastest start to a beatification process in memory for a man many considered a saint long before he died.

Pope Benedict XVI waived the traditional five-year waiting period to allow the church’s saint-making process to begin immediately for John Paul.

So why the sudden rush to sainthood?

The pace of life has increased too much. Faster, sooner, immediately, are all now the norm not the exception. Even sainthood can’t wait it seems. At John Paul’s April 8, 2005 funeral Mass chants of “Santo Subito!” (sainthood immediately) erupted spontaneously.

The sainthood process also uses the Internet to collect information. An official website has been set up to solicit material for the sainthood review process. Pope John Paul’s beatification file already contains 635 documents.

What would John Paul have to say in all this hurry-up, do-it-now, send me an angel, make-me-a-saint flurry of activity?

Even the requirements for sainthood have been changed in recent years so one verified miracle is needed for beatification, with only a second miracle needed for sainthood.

But just what is a saint? A quick Google search returned thousands of references on this topic. The Work of God website gives this explanation:

Wikipedia gives a small selection of the more than 10,000 Roman Catholic saints and beatified people.

^{Caption Footnote 1}

Peter Kreeft’s article What is a Saint? begins with this statement:

Saints are not freaks or exceptions. They are the standard operating model for human beings. In fact, in the biblical sense of the word, all believers are saints. “Sanctity” means holiness. All men, women and children, born or unborn, beautiful or ugly, straight or gay, are holy, for they bear the image of God.

This delicious description of what is a saint stands out from Kreeft’s list:

A saint takes his hands off the steering wheel of his life and lets God steer. That’s scary, for God is invisible. A saint also has hands that move the world. He has feet that move through the world with a sure step.

I ask again, why the sudden rush to sainthood? Let us take the route well travelled — but with our hands on the steering wheel of life. Let us reflect on a life well served to his faith. Let John Paul rest his papal feet for at least the required five years.

The faithful will pray to John Paul whether or not he is a saint tomorrow, in five years, or in 25 years. Let’s take the time to honour his memory first.

1. Caption to photo of St. Bernadette

Saint Bernadette
She was the oldest of six children in the very poor family of Francois and Louise Casterot.
On 11 February 1858, around the time of her first Communion, she was gathering firewood with her sisters when a beautiful lady appeared to her in a cave. She appeared a total of 18 times.
During the apparitions Bernadette was persecuted by the authorities and also by her family. Before the last apparition the Lady said to her ” I am the Immaculate Conception” ,she asked her to pray for sinners and to have a Chapel built near the grotto. After the last apparition a spring of miraculous waters sprang from the ground.
A great basilica was built in that place, where millions of pilgrims honor Our Lady every year.
Bernadette became a nun and died at the age of thirty six, her body remains incorrupt.”
www.theworkofgod.org

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