WHY THE CHURCH
CANONIZES
Every human or religious group needs models to refer
to; leaders who are an expression of its ideals or goals.
When we do not meet such people in real life we feel disoriented.
I have no doubt that in the experience and in the mind
of each of you there lingers the memory of persons who
had a positive impact on your human and spiritual growth.
Do you recall which persons were reference points as you
steered your way through each stage of your life? Which
“saints” influenced you?
The Church is a human/divine group which also needs leaders
as an expression of its gospel ideals at each stage of
history. It needs men and women whose lives clearly manifested
a particular way of being disciples of Jesus. It always
needs them, but especially so during times of transition.
In those complex situations of change it needs intuitive
persons, persons with charisma, prophets, persons who
set before it utopias of hope and who lead it toward those
goals. Something similar can be said for a religious institute
or for society itself.
HOW SAINTS ARE MADE
In the normal course of things, the Church has set up
various processes for authenticating the holiness of certain
persons in order to present them to the ecclesial community
and to the world as "holy" men or women, that
is to say, as models of evangelical life, outstanding
witnesses of the power of the Holy Spirit in the world.
The processes which end in canonization require in-depth
study of a Christian's life, the testimony of witnesses,
and the spiritual radiation which he or she continues
to emit after death.
Among the signs needed for a canonization is a miracle
attributed to that person's intercession. This is normally
a cure from some illness, which takes place in some inexplicable
way, when the doctors have no solutions apart from the
advances on which the medical profession relies at that
specific moment in time. In the case of Fr. Champagnat
the miracle occurred in 1976, in the case of Br. Heriberto
Weber in Uruguay.
A number of persons are involved in preparing the necessary
information and documentation for each canonization process.
The one primarily responsible is called the "Postulator
of the Cause". At the Vatican there are experts who
study and authenticate the data presented, if need be.
This group includes doctors who exercise their profession
while also offering their services within their areas
of competence.
At the present time, laypeople can serve as "Postulators".
I know one who gave up his career as an attorney and opted
for this service to the Church. He mentioned to me that
his experience was proving very profitable for his Christian
life, and then added with a smile, "My wife tells
me that I make other people 'saints' but I'm not one myself".
WHAT GOOD ARE SAINTS?
What does it mean that a person is recognized by the
Church as a "saint"? Does it mean that he or
she was born a "saint" and lived in Christian
perfection from then on without any limitations whatever?
When the Church canonizes someone and proposes him or
her as a model of the Christian life, what it is saying
to us is: let yourself be formed...let the love of God
transform you, convert you...let your heart respond generously
to that love of God. Love is stronger than death (and
sin is death); love will triumph in you if you let it.
This Marcellin Champagnat did.
I believe we need to situate the canonization within
the normal growth-process of a Christian life that lets
itself be guided by the Spirit of God. Anyone who, without
ceasing to experience his or her own limits (sin included),
opens up generously to grace and makes a firm decision
to let the Spirit mold in his or her life the image of
Jesus. "Put on Christ"..."Have the same
attitudes as Christ Jesus" (cf. Col. 3,12-16).
People often identify "saints" with miracle-working.
Saints are not supermen. They are not "extraterrestrials".
Saints are people who make of their lives something that
others do not ordinarily do. Many people are born, grow
up, play, eat and drink, work, relax, love, betray, regret
being so run-of-the-mill but keep on being so, think about
themselves but ignore others...the memory of such a life
fades quickly. No one is interested in them, because theirs
was a life "without life".
Saints are persons who dedicated their lives, (not just
a few years), to changing certain important things. In
order to change what is evil they have no other technique
than to change their own lives and place them at the service
of the Kingdom of God. It is evident that it is not possible
to "gain the whole world" without "losing
one's life" (cf. Mt. 17,22-23), without giving it
generously and out of love and without a determination
to correct and overcome errors (conversion!). And this
is the path of the saints. Every saint has his or her
limitations. They recognize them that is precisely one
good sign and that they are authentically living their
conversion, purification and sanctification. A saint never
says, "Lord, I am not like the rest of men"
(cf. Lk 17, 11-13). They are aware of their real weakness.
They have no false humility.
One day, someone asked an old monk what went on in the
monastery, and he replied, "Well, we fall and we
get up again, we fall and we get up again...." The
fact that we have chosen to live our Christian faith in
a consistent manner, or our vocation as consecrated Brothers,
does not shield us from the difficulties inherent in becoming
adults in Christ. Growth in maturity requires us to go
through periods of crisis. And in those situations we
need an environment in which we can fall and get up again
as we totter and stumble along toward the Kingdom of God.
Are our communities or Christian life groups giving us
support at this moment?
I personally consider the canonization of Marcellin Champagnat
as a gift of God and a gift from the Good Mother to the
whole Marist Family. For the Brothers it is a grace which
reaffirms us in our vocation as consecrated laymen who
want to follow Jesus in the footsteps of Marcellin, evangelizing
young people through education. For people in the world,
and for young people above all, the canonization is the
justification of the love and admiration they feel for
Marcellin and the confirmation of the truth that in Marcellin
they have a model to imitate for living the gospel.
HOW TO CELEBRATE MARCELLIN'S
CANONIZATION
We Brothers on the General Council have shared our expectations
of the canonization and the meaning it holds for us, in
this concrete moment of the life of the Institute and
of the Church, and taking into account children and young
people, since they are at the center of the mission which
Marcellin has handed on to us.
I will briefly indicate a few of our desires and hopes:
a) We believe that the canonization is a gift, a grace,
and an opportunity to begin a new stage in the life
of the Institute, in which the Brothers and "lay
persons who feel themselves to be Marists" will
make commitments within the framework of Champagnat's
charism and spirituality. It is a question of stirring
ourselves up to look ahead in order to "be reborn",
without tarrying in the joy of seeing what we have desired
and asked for so many years finally becoming a reality.
b) We judge this event as a favorable time to deepen
our spirituality, as our Constitutions express it: "The
spirituality bequeathed to us by Marcellin Champagnat
is marial and apostolic. It flows from God's love for
us, gains strength as we give ourselves to others, and
leads us to the Father. In this way, our apostolic life,
our life of prayer, and our community life are blended
into harmony" (C7).
c) We want to live it as an ecclesial event which helps
us to integrate ourselves still more in the local and
diocesan Church. We can all meet in the canonization:
Brothers and laypeople with whom we share a mission
and a spirituality, the four Marist congregations, other
religious families to whom we are very close in our
mission and in a very similar consecrated lifestyle,
as are the "Institutes of Brothers".
d) We would be happy to celebrate it with other congregations
and institutions which, like our own, are waiting for
the canonization of some of their "blesseds".
We are also moved toward this by the desire to broaden
our vision of the Church and to share the same happening
with other religious families.
e) We feel impelled to situate ourselves, like Marcellin
and with him, before a world which presents itself to
us as an "abundant harvest" awaiting harvesters.
A world of young people who are hoping to meet the "brother"
friend, present and attuned to their reality, a traveling
companion with whom to share the search for God, the
"brother" who loves and who, like Marcellin,
every time he "sees a child or a young person...wants
to tell him how much God loves him". For that reason,
we would like children and young people to be very much
present, to be active participants, because they are
Marcellin's friends.
f) We want to be open to the Spirit, so as to let ourselves
be challenged by world realities (injustice, poverty,
marginalization...). It is a question of discovering
and responding with Marcellin's heart to the "Montagnes"
of today. We harbor cherish the hope of "re-reading
the Marist charism, of seeing with Champagnat's eyes,
of making his heart our own", so that the Marist
Institute may make a more determined option for the
poor, because they have a right to be preferred by us.
