Saintliness is in our DNA

Good News ReflectionWednesday of the 30th Week in Ordinary TimeOctober 28, 2009
Today's Feast: Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles Pray for help in desperate situations:http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Jude.htm
For a printer-ready copy of "Successful Faith in a Family of Sinful Saints", which is an alternative reflection for today and is useful in RCIA and other church groups, please visit Catholic Digital Resources at http://catholicdr.com/calendar/October/Simon-Jude.htm
Today's Readings:Rom 6:12-18Ps 124:1b-8Luke 12:39-48http://www.usccb.org/nab/102109.shtmlUSCCB Podcast of the Readings:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_10_21.mp3
Saintliness is in our DNA
You and I are brothers and sisters, members of the same household. We belong to a growing family that includes all the saints in heaven as well as the unfinished saints who still live on earth. In today's first reading, St. Paul says that we form a building (the Church), the foundation of which is the apostles and prophets. The cornerstone is Jesus, and he holds us all together.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus discerned which of his disciples should be trained as future leaders of the Church. Today we celebrate the sainthood of two of them: Simon who was called a Zealot because he was zealous about obeying both Jewish law and Canaanite law, and Jude (or Judas) the son of James and a relative of Jesus.
Jude is our brother in desperate situations; in his New Testament letter he stressed that we must persevere in difficulties. Yet Jude told Jesus at the Last Supper that he should show himself to the whole world after his resurrection (see John 14:22). How much easier the Apostles' work would have been if Jesus had made public appearances after conquering death!
Think of someone you've been praying for, someone you've been trying to convince to come to Mass, or someone who refuses to repent of sinful behavior. Wouldn't it be great if Jesus appeared to them and spoke directly to them? How much easier your ministry to them would be! St. Jude knows how to help us persevere in the difficulties that come with being an evangelizer.
Simon is the brother of those who find security in legalistic observance of Church and civil laws. His saintliness increased when he learned from Jesus that the highest law is the Law of Love. As he listened to Jesus and observed his behavior, his understanding of obedience expanded. When we forget that all Church laws were made to benefit Christians, not enslave us, St. Simon knows how to help us get our priorities right.
The saints in heaven are available to help us in our earthly lives, because we belong to the same family, united and enlivened by Jesus. Jesus is the blood that flows through the family tree. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes, has said: "Holiness ... belongs to the very nature of the Church, to its DNA."
In other words, we all have saintliness in our DNA. Only a few are called to such heroic sainthood that they're canonized as examples of holiness; however, according to Scripture, a saint is anyone who's a member of the household of God. Yes, that means that you too are a saint, made holy by the Holy Spirit when you were baptized, growing in holiness as you learn to live according to your baptismal likeness of the Divine Father.
On a different note: Halloween's almost here. What's the right perspective about it? See my Good News WordByte on it:http://wordbytes.org/occult/halloween.htm
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