Saints Are My Rock Stars - Guest Lay Preacher: Casey Kurti

All Saints Day, hands down has become my favorite holiday-secular or religious. My love for saints goes way back and as I grow older they continue to enthrall, charm and inspire me. Basically for two reasons: one, they have superpowers and two they have humility. Let's talk about the sexy part first, their superpowers.

As a young Catholic girl growing up in the 60's there were only a few women who I found interesting: Alice Crimmins, the murderess, Madame Curie, the scientist, and all the female saints whose stories were documented in "The Lives of the Saints." The women in this book leapt over political, historical and religious restraints in ways that did not reflect the real life circumstances of my still-wearing-white-gloves-self.

These superpower female saints had visions, heard radar-like instructions, led armies, became secret leaders, and battled evil in such an intense way that they made Honey West look like a wimp. A beheading here, a cut off breast there, burnt at the stake, bravely definite, praying and chaste, they went to their deaths. Not only that- they had franchised products manufactured in their likeness; holy cards, medals, statues and even feature films. They could have been given out with a Happy Meals if happy meals had existed.

Boys loved Saints too. In his book, Becoming Who You Are, the Jesuit priest James Martin talks of his action hero love for a statue of St. Jude that he chooses to buy for $3.50 instead of saving up his allowance for a very cool Sears pup tent. Martin explains that he used saints as second-in-command fixers.

"… if (God) the Great Problem Solver couldn't fix things, which seemed to occur more frequently that I would have liked, I turned to Saint Jude. I figured that if it was beyond the capacity of God to do something, then surely it must be a hopeless cause and it was time to call in St. Jude."

Unlike Father James Martin I didn't expect the Saints to do favors or solve my problems, instead I hoped that by studying their lives I might begin to understand something about mine. Who I was and where I was headed…and I'd hope it would be dramatic! Learning about their lives made me hungry to learn about all lives and ultimately to begin to understand my place in the world.

My adult relationship with saints was reignited ten years ago. I was in London to research the letters of the Victorian Egyptologist, Amelia Edwards. Done with that task, we headed to Westminster Abbey.

Outside the West Entrance to the Abbey were life size stone statues embedded into the wall. My husband Chris pointed to the statues and said "Look there's Martin Luther King Jr….And isn't that Archbishop Romero-the guy that was murdered in a church while saying mass?"

I glared at him, let's just say, quizzically and said "No heathen. Are you crazy? Do you know how ancient this church is? Impossible!"

My Catholic knowledge of saints was based upon the arduous canonization process. And as much as I believed that Martin Luther King Junior was a saint and a martyr- it would take many, many years-if ever- for the Catholic Church to sanctify a mere Christian. But we weren't at a Catholic church-this was Anglican headquarters!

After that historical apparition and a tour of the church, we went to the gift shop with our kids and much to my shock there were post cards of some of the statues that "represent 20th century Christian martyrs; Elizabeth of Russia, Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, etc. etc. Damn. I hate it when my agnostic husband is right.

Back in Ulster County I double checked this new saint information with Father Robert and he told me that the Episcopal Church believes that all baptized Christians are in the Communion of Saints, including both the living and the dead. Not only that, along with the major ecclesiastical significant saints, there are also a group of "saints" who the church may chose to honor with a feast day on their liturgical calendar; for example Elizabeth Cady Stanton and yippee.. Florence Nightingale!

(as an aside; Lesser Feasts and Fasts, is updated every three years, and notable persons are added to the liturgical calendar.)

I was an AWOL Christian, seriously contemplating a return to the fold and the combination of the 20th century contemporary saints and the fact that so many sacred writers and thinkers (Chaucer, Dickens, Darwin, etc.) were buried at Westminster Abbey pushed me over the edge. I came back to Christianity and joined the Episcopal Church and this communion of saints at Christ the King.

So back to my Jesuit pal, James Martin. During the time I was on my Christian hiatus I was still reading and sometimes writing about the lives of others, and one of those people was the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. I have always been more intrigued by his life than his writing. And recently, while reading Martin, I was reminded of my favorite thing about Merton. Not only did he want to be a good Catholic, but what he really wanted to be was a saint. His friend Bob Lax tells him that…

"All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one. Don't you believe God will make you what He created you to be, if you consent to let Him do it? All you have to do is desire it."

The next day Merton speaks with his mentor, Mark Van Doren, the esteemed professor of English at Columbia University and mentions his confusing conversation. "Lax is going around telling everyone that all a man needs to be a saint is to want to become one." "Of course" says Van Doren..

Reading that section of the book again, at this stage of my life, I was reunited with my secret desire; like Merton, I want to be a saint! Yes, a saint-isn't that the goal? What we are all required to do? Discover, develop and ignite our super powers for the good of all humankind? I think the answer is a resounding "Of course" and I didn't even go to Columbia.

In this particular communion of saints we have seen many examples of those super powers, for example. Someone who is no longer with us that helped build this church… Saint Sid, patron of candles.

And there is a saint here today, a woman who spent many years in a seemingly unimportant job, assistant school secretary welcoming and comforting scared five year olds into the jaws of public school Saint Connie, patroness of school children.

And there is another saint here, who was called to take a leadership position at The Food Pantry even though she was racked with intense doubt and insecurity, Saint Midge, patroness of the hungry.

And in our community at large, there is a person, who not unlike the saints who make flowers miraculously appear to those who have diligently worked for the benefit of others Saint Mysterious Flower Person, patron of magicians

And I could go on and on. But the saints I speak about today not only have superpowers they also have what some of us need to study and acquire; humility. If you remember from the opening of this sermon I believe that you recognize true saints by their power and their humility.

Like Saint Bernadette, one of my all time favorite saints (show Song Of Bernadette) who earned the whole package, the visitations, the miraculous healing water of Lourdes and holy cards, medals, statues and a movie! Yes she had incredible super powers but she also had profound humility; she prayed to be like a broom behind the door.

So on this great feast day; All Saints Day, join me brothers and sisters, fire up your super powers and reconnect with humility. And as a closing, ironically for an eight-a-clock-er, I remembered that as a young girl I used to do a tap dance in the shower with my sister Mary Jo and it was to this song, (softly sing)

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

Don't you want to be included? So get to stepping…

Amen.