Encouragement for the journey
Greetings fellow travellers!
Today is All Saints Day, and usually we Protestants are a bit cautious about saints and their meaning and significance to our present time and our faith journey. But at the same time, I’m sure you have heard of patron saints, and here are a few for you to consider:
Accountants – St. Matthew
Bee keepers – St. Ambrose
Clergy – St. Gabriel of our lady of sorrows
Computers – St. Isidore of Seville
Dairy workers – St. Brigid of Kildare
Difficult marriages – St. Rita of Cascia
Earaches – St. Polycarp
Grandparents – St. Agnes
Headaches – St. Teresa of Avila
Juvenile delinquents – St. Dominic Savio
Librarians – St. Jerome
Lost items – St. Anthony of Padua
Lost causes – St. Jude
Lost dogs – St. Felix
Musicians – St. Cecilia
New Zealand – St. Dymphna
Perfumers – St. Mary of Magdalene
Pilots – St Joseph of Cupertino
Poets – St. Columba
Rheumatism – St. James
Scientists – St. Albert the Great
Teachers – St. Gregory the Great
Theatrical performers – St. Clare of Assisi
Toothache – St. Apollonia
Veterinarians- St. Eligius
Vintners – St. Amand
This is just a selection, you understand, and many of the saints have multiple special interests. To begin with, many of these seem humorous – how can there be a patron saint of rheumatism? Or of computers? But if we approach this tradition with respect and seek to understand, might we then perceive the intention and the longing beneath the connecting of a person of great faith and devotion to God with an immediate and pressing need?
Personally I have felt deep connections with saint Julian of Norwich and the Dominican Meister Eckhart. They are wise friends and mentors, and just because they are dead does not mean I cannot still hear their voices in their writing, or catch a sense of their abiding presence. The saints who go before us are alive in God, hidden from view but held within the Life that is eternally pouring forth. Love is stronger than death and the saints are cheering us on – I think that’s worth celebrating.
Peace,
roxy