Faith

Maureen Crowley
Heil

One of my favorite books is called 365 Saints a Year. It's a daily reflection on different saints, some popular, some lesser known. I used to read it to my children at breakfast, hoping the story would inspire them to be better people that day, and give them an insight into their own call to holiness. They made an impact: my middle guy once shocked the celebrant of his second grade Mass by knowing it was the feast of Saint Scholastica, twin of Saint Benedict, who taught the importance of knowing the spirit of the law as well as the letter!

My book is not a typical one on the lives of saints; it's written as a reflection on a quality, good or bad, that the saint may have had. Wait a minute -- saints? Character flaws? Aren't they perfect? Well, now that they're in heaven they are, but on earth they were sinners, just like the rest of us. Obviously, in God's eyes, their virtues outweighed their flaws!

Through the mission education programs of the Missionary Childhood Association, our Catholic students are learning what it means to be holy through our "Saint of the Month" lessons. We highlight the God-given talents of each saint and how they used those gifts to accomplish their own earthly mission.

Our lessons highlight some of the lesser known, even quirkier saints: take Saint Leobinus for instance. His family bartered his work as a farmhand for an education from the local monastery. He found God and joined their ranks, laboring in the fields by day and studying by night. Leobinus' fellow monks disliked him for disturbing their sleep by keeping his lamp burning well into the night to read his lessons. In the end, though, when the monastery was overrun by barbarians, who stayed behind with the elderly monks who could not be moved? Leobinus, of course. He gave his life in doing so.

My youngest, who used to get into "good trouble" by reading by flashlight under his covers well past bedtime, chose Leobinus as his Confirmation saint. The bishop's face at the ceremony was priceless when he heard the saint's name called!

At the Missionary Childhood Association, we know that by learning about those whom we call Heaven's Heroes, students will discover their own call to holiness and find ways in which to live it every day.

Do you have a young one -- or a class of them -- who you'd like to introduce to Heaven's Heroes? Sign up for the Saint of the Month to arrive in your inbox: email dbraithwaite@propfaithboston.org.

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.

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