Seeking super help from our patron saints
Mark 6:17-29 Herod
was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of
Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to
Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So he promptly
dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and
beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to
the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard
about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
If you had
to choose one, who would be your favorite superhero? You know, would it be
Batman, or Wonder Woman, or Superman or Green Lantern? I’ll never forget that
classic conversation between Hurley and Charlie in the T.V. show LOST, where
they debate who’s faster, Superman or Flash. In case you forgot, here’s what
they said. Charlie said, “You’re insane, mate, Superman can fly around the
entire planet in the blink of an eye.” Hurley retorted, “Dude, if we’re going
by a pure foot race, Superman would get dusted by the Flash.” Charlie replies
incredulously, “Well, why would the MAN OF STEEL agree to a sodding foot
race??” Still unperturbed, Hurley says simply: “Uh, for charity, and Flash
would totally win, cause he can like vibrate through walls and stuff.” Well,
there you go: who can argue with vibrating through walls?
Now,
everyone knows that to be a superhero, you have to have a superpower. For
example, Flash can run really fast, and Wonder Woman has an invisible jet. I
remember one priest-friend of mine wrote on his Facebook page that his superpower
was “transubstantiation,” changing the bread and wine into the Body and Blood
of Christ. But Flash would totally dust my priest-friend in a footrace.
Well, we
Catholics, too, believe in superheroes, but we just call them “saints.” And
just like all superheroes have special powers, so all our saints have
miraculous powers, too, which is what they are the “patrons of.” For instance,
we invoke St. Anthony to use his superpower to help us find something when it’s
lost. St. Thomas Aquinas is patron saint of students and often invoked before a
test. St. Lucy is patron saint of eye problems. And soon, St. Mother Teresa
will be patron saint of love for the poorest of the poor. You see, every saint,
like very superhero, has to demonstrate a superpower, in more precise parlance,
that’s called their “heroic virtue.”
Every August
29, we celebrate the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, the day of
his martyrdom, when he bore witness to Christ with his blood. Like all other saintly
superheroes, St. John also has a superpower, or heroic virtue, namely, he’s the
patron saint of baptism and conversion and tailors. But to be honest, he
probably could not beat Flash in a foot race. You see, St. John the Baptist
lost his head in Herod’s prison, but he saved his soul by being faithful to his
mission as precursor of Christ. That’s why Jesus praised him so highly saying:
“No man born of woman is great than John the Baptist” (Mt. 11:11).
Today, let
me invite you to argue and debate not about your favorite superhero, but about
your favorite saint. Pick a particular patron saint, especially one with the
special superpower – that heroic virtue – that you lack the most. Maybe you
need more humility or purity or patience, or maybe you need to overcome greed
or laziness or pride, maybe you need to sit longer in silence or persevere in
prayer. There’s a patron saint with precisely that superpower, that heroic
virtue. Invoke their intercession, and
be blessed by their virtues. You know, you may not beat Flash in a foot race on
earth. But you will beat Flash in the foot race that ends in heaven.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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