Witnesses to the Gospel

“The lives of the saints are nothing but the Gospels put into practice.”

                                                                               St. Francis de Sales

     In recent years there have appeared a wealth of material written on the saints. I believe many people today are fascinated by the saints and there stories because they are interested in seeing how these men and women from all different time periods lived the Christian life. We must go beyond the pictures and statues we see of them represented in our churches or homes and come in contact with the real people they were with the same struggles and successes we go through today. Their faith guided by the scriptures became their source of strength and inspiration. It is my own love for the saints that has led me to present this different twist on the lives of the saints using the scriptures as a bases for reflection. There are three objectives to this book of reflections. The first comes from the two lines above from the writings of St. Francis de Sales. When we read the lives of the saints, we see the gospels come to life. I have always believed this. As one who loves reading about the saints and who enjoys biographies of religious figures, you cannot help but to see the gospel message come to life through them. These men and women practiced their faith to a heroic degree guided by the gospel message. This shows us that we too can live the gospels by practicing what they contain in our everyday lives. The bible is not just meant to be read and meditated upon, but we must take what we read, what we meditate on and put it into practice. When we read the lives of the saints and other holy men and women, we can see how they responded to their times with the scriptures as their guide. They truly are witnesses to the gospel for us today.

     Further in his writings St. Francis de Sales urges us to make friends with the saints. They are the ones who will greet us when we reach our heavenly reward. This is the second purpose of this book. Collected here are brief biographies of men and women from different eras who lived the gospel message. Some have been canonized by the Catholic Church, others have not but all have something to say to us today on how to find happiness in this world rooted in faith that will help lead us to our heavenly reward. Some of the men and women here are familiar to us like: St. Catherine of Siena, St. Joseph, St. Joan of Arc, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann. Some are obscure or new contemporary witnesses of holiness such as: Alberto Marvelli, Frank Parater, Mary Frances Clarke, and Juan Bautista de Segura.  It was hard narrowing it down to these 41 subjects there were so many more I would have included but this is a good taste of the familiar and unfamiliar who lived the gospels.

     Finally, St. Francis de Sales advises us that in our meditation we must, “aspire to God with short but frequent outpourings of the heart.” This is the third purpose of the book. The questions after each section is intended to help us reflect on the scripture quote presented in each reflection along with the lives present here.. Hopefully these reflections can help us in our prayer life to speak more clearly with guide using the scriptures and the lives of these holy men and women. Where is God working in our lives? How does this particular scripture quote speak to me? What examples from the life of the saint or holy witness can aide me right now?

     It is my hope that these reflections will spark a love and interest in the scriptures, the lives of the saints and meditation. These are three powerful ways to help us grow in our spiritual lives as we become witnesses to the gospel today.