Saints from Sinners: Our Spiritual Journey

When I started writing this reflection last night, I couldn’t help but think about how little time we have left here at Strake. We have only a handful of days left as seniors, and we graduate in less than a month. Right now, we’re in the final stage of a major section of our lives, and we’re about to go off into the world to forge our own paths. For me, it seems that time is distorted: I feel like it's been ages since I was a freshman, yet it’s only been a few weeks since the beginning of this year. I want you all to look back on your past years in high school, and to picture your younger self. See if you can remember what you thought, felt, or did as a freshman, sophomore, or junior. What were your fears? Expectations? Dreams? Take a moment and immerse yourself in the memories of your past self. Reflecting back on the thoughts of my younger self, I can see how much I’ve grown over the years. I can see my past flaws, mistakes, and tension points as I’ve progressed though high sch...

Saint Teresa  of Calcutta is a most influential figure in our time, not only because she is now a Saint, but also because she is quite a modern saint having lived through the 20th century. She is seen as on of the greatest humanitarians in recent times, belong and inspiring millions through her congregation and her own personal acts. However, her will and life can be summed up in the Bible passage Matthew 25:34-40 which basically states what you do to the lowest of your brothers you have done unto me and those who have done those works shall inherit the kingdom prepared for you. Saint Teresa who heartedly believed that greatest poverty is to be unloved, uncared for and unwanted. Even if your earthly necessities are fulfilled like hunger and thirst you will always feel poor at heart if no one wants you, loves you, or cares for you. She went out serving the poorest of the poor and even if just a smile could brightens someone’s day she would give it to them even if it hurt her. She ga...

Called “the saint of ordinary life” by St. Pope John Paul II, St. Josemaria Escriva was inspired by God to found Opus Dei, an organization dedicated to helping people from all walks of life follow Christ, seek holiness in their daily life, and grow in love for God and their fellow men. His many spiritual writings include books made up of short points for prayer and reflection. St. Josemaria believed that all people could achieve holiness by offering up their work and daily lives to God. By offering up our sufferings, we achieve sanctity and grow closer to Christ. In doing this, we become model Catholics, functioning as productive citizens while also spreading God through our actions, thus drawing others closer to Christianity. Through a well-balanced and ordered life of prayer, work, and rest, we can more fully offer our lives to God and be living examples of good Christians.

    When we has twelve, St. Maximilian Kolbe had a vision of Mary: “That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both." This incredible early experience really shows the kind of man Kolbe was. While most would hesitate to accept either or reluctantly accept one, Kolbe embraces both of them. Even from this early age, we see that Kolbe lives for God rather than himself. He lives to glorify and worship Him, willingly sacrificing his own desires and even his very life for the greater glory of God. Because he loves God so much, he trusts him completely and is unafraid of worldly threats. Though long mission trips, bad health, and imprisonment, Kolbe’s faith only grows because to him any worldly obstacle...

St. Andre of Montreal lived a life of service to the Lord by glorifying him in everything he did. When St. Andre visited his bishop to let him join the order of the Holy Cross, he begged him saying, “My only ambition is to serve God in the most obscure tasks.” This type of surrendering to God, desiring to glorify the Lord in any way he could, was the cornerstone of St. Andre’s life. So what does it mean to glorify the Lord? Well, St. Andre would say that it means to love as God loves us. It didn’t matter to him what God called him to do, he had already submitted to God’s will in that way. Instead he found importance in how he lived his calling. He realized that God is with us through all things. The place we are, the work we are doing, none of that has any bearing on whether God dwells in our life. And as long as He is at my side, we are called to do all things for His greater glory. A big part of doing living like this is being able to set aside our wills and accept that God as the r...

     We often think of Saints as people of extraordinary faith who did incredible things in their lives such as miracles. But every Saint, just like us, was a normal human being. They did not wake up one day with a great faith that allowed them to perform miracles; they grew in their faith because they prayed and worked on their relationship with God every single day, hour, minute and second of their lives.       I chose to research about Padre Pio’s life because I have been focusing on praying more every day, and I knew Padre Pio spent most of his day praying to God. So I figured that learning about Padre Pio’s life would help me grow in prayer and ultimately in my faith. I have always wondered how Padre Pio achieved his holiness and thought that there had something different about him that made him such a holy person. I knew that he prayed and meditated for hours every day, but I always thought he had a secret to grow in his faith that normal peop...

Brian Swanson Saint reflection on: St. Agatha of Sicily      You may be unsure who St. Agatha of Sicily might be. She was born in raised in Catania, Sicily where she lived all her life. Her family was very wealthy and dedicated to the faith. Around age fifteen she became a consecrated virgin, a state in life where young women choose to remain celibate and give themselves wholly to Jesus and the Church in a life of prayer and service. Later in life she became a deaconess in the church and would prepare people for baptism and holy communion. Being from a rich family and a beautiful woman, that did not stop men from desiring her. A man named Quintianus was the ruler at the time and wished to marry Agatha. She refused and was sent to prison and tortured through iron hooks, torches, whips, burned over coals, and having her breasts torn off. It is said that St. Peter healed her of her wounds. She later died after lots of torture but continue her faith through it all. While b...

What I’m most struck by when I read about Maria Goretti is her humility. When she’s laying on her deathbed in mortal, terrible pain, there’s no self-righteousness there. There’s no vengeful anger or even a tantrum towards the man, almost a decade older than her, who killed her when she refused his advances. She’s done nothing to deserve her pain. And all she bears with her as she goes to Heaven is sacrifice and prayer. She stopped asking for water, even though she had an overwhelming thirst due to the blood loss, when the priest asked her to give it up for sinners and reminded her that Jesus was also thirsty on the cross. She prayed for her attacker! Where does this strength come from? It all stemmed from her daily life, what she did everyday that she put into practice in her dying moments. Let’s imagine the humility and self-sacrifice of her prayers for her attacker, but in everyday moments. Washing the dishes. Looking after her younger siblings. Taking care of the chores and keeping...

Blessed Joseph Gerard did a lot of things in Lesotho but none of that matters. Precious minerals lie under the glorious mountain tops, roots lie under a tree, and the ways to heaven lie under the deeds of great men/women. He was a man with love in his heart “We must love them, love them in spite of everything, love them always.” He would say. Since the beginning of time mankind’s is easy give love away and but remains wary to sustain her. But love, real love, has no end it has no expiration date in spite of everything love doesn’t flee the undeserving of anything it should it should find itself grown stronger by the will of the giver. God is in everything and in everyone, to love God is to love all of mankind. In today’s world we seem so easy to forget that well I guess we have always been easy to forget that God’s will is us to better serve His will is to better serve other people. I would say humanity but speaking in such on such a large scale leaves out each little detail. Each m...

Fulton Sheen was a scholastic, theologian, and most importantly ardently in love with God. Everything about Fulton Sheen radiated holiness. His writings, talk shows, and sermons were all given straight to God. With Fulton Sheen there was no personal gain as he consistently lived for Christ. He never called himself holy and even went to the extent of constantly calling himself a sinner because he always went to God for forgiveness and grace. His humility was that of a true servant of God. His love for God mostly rooted itself in his dedicated holy hour everyday before the blessed sacrament. This time and relationship with God propelled Fulton Sheen through the rest of his day. He genuinely knew God was working in his life, and his main goal was to share that passion for God with others. He lived very routinely and traditionally, standing by the Catholic Church and the Vatican even though it was against popular culture. He lived with an authenticity that I strive for in my daily life. He...