Teresa Tomeo - Girlfriends and Other Saints: Companions on My Journey of Faith

GIRL FRIENDS

AND OTHER

SAINTS

COMPANIONS

ON MY

JOURNEY OF

FAITH

COMPANIONS

ON MY

JOURNEY OF

FAITH

TERESA TOMEO

Copyright 2016 by Teresa Tomeo

All rights reserved

Published by The Word Among Us Press

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20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN: 978-1-59325-292-2

eISBN: 978-1-59325-484-1

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright 1994, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Cover design by Faceout Studios

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author and publisher.

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The feeling remains that God is on the journey too.
St. Teresa of Avila

Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP

Friendship... is born at the moment when
one man says to another: What! You too?
I thought that no one but myself...

C.S. Lewis

As Christians we are all trying to do our best to love God and neighbor. But lets not kid ourselvesits getting more and more difficult to hold onto our faith. Right is wrong. Wrong is right. Everything is turning into a free-for-all. Nowadays, Catholics and other Christians who are trying to be faithful end up being the ones that nobody wants to invite to the block party or backyard barbecue. We can sometimesand with good reasonfeel like the most unpopular girl at the school dance or the one that nobody wants to friend on Facebook. We may feel like foreigners in a very strange land, even among those to whom we thought we could relate.

But what if we werent alone? What if we actually had thousands, yes, thousands upon thousands, of spiritual supporters who were waiting in the wings, standing by, ready to help us at a momentsor more specifically, a prayersnotice? What would it be like to have on our side a spiritual giant who had experienced similar trials and tribulations? What if we could call that saint a friend? Wouldnt that make us feel much more confident when our feet hit the ground each morning?

Sounds too good to be true, doesnt it? Sounds like something that only happens once in a lifetime or to people who are way more holy than we are. Well, if it happened to me, it can happen to anyone. You might be thinking, Oh sure. Like some holier-than-thou person whose painting is hanging in the Vatican or some other basilica or cathedral somewhere is actually someone I can relate to and who actually cares about me.

Well, getting to know the saints and learning to reach out to them is part of truly belonging to a loving family. Thats what the communion of saints is all about. It means getting the support we need whenever we need it. And if we profess to believe what the Church teaches regarding the saints, then we truly are, as it says in Hebrews 12:1, surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, were told that we have one heck of a cheering section in heaven.

The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom (cf. Hebrews 12:1), especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were put in charge of many things (cf. Matthew 25:21). Their intercession is their most exalted service to Gods plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world. (2683)

So why all the cloudiness still when it comes to this great community of witnesses and the role they can and should play in our lives? Why do so many Catholics, as I did for years, simply put saints high up on a pedestal (or place their images and statues on a shelf), merely to be looked at and admired from afar, when these great men and women truly want to help us in a very personal way in our everyday lives?

Thats why I wanted to write a different type of book about the saints. Even though there is no shortage of material written about Catholic saints, I am not aware of many books that help us see the saints as real friends, fellow sisters or brothers with whom we can share our joys and our sorrows, and people to whom we can turn when life gets crazy, as it often does.

No doubt there are books on the lives of a variety of saints. There are books on praying with the saints. There are libraries filled with the writings of many well-known saints such as St. Teresa of Avila, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Catherine of Siena, just to name a few, several of whom well get to know better over the next several chapters. But how many books detail modern-day encounters with the saints? And how many books give us practical applications of the Churchs teaching to help us bring the saints into our lives in a personal way? What exactly does incorporating the communion of saints in our world really look like? Even if we have favorite patron saints to whom we turn for help with specific issues, do we really consider those saints our friends?

If we would take even just a little bit of time to look at the lives of the saints, we would definitely find a kindred spirit or a soul mate and, no doubt, as in my case, several friends. The saints were real people who often lived very ordinary lives. The difference was that they loved God and their fellow man in extraordinary ways. They were doctors, lawyers, nurses, slaves, rich men, poor men, teachers, fishermen, reformed murderers, former adulterers, soldiers, confessed persecutors of Christiansthe list goes on and on. Certainly the communion of saints includes some incredibly holy men and women who lived extremely virtuous lives during their time on planet Earth, but there were just as many whose lives were not so saintly until they discovered Jesus or rediscovered him later in life. Surely among the variety of personalities and professions, there are a few special friends with whom you can identifyfriends who are just waiting to help you along the way.

Throughout Girlfriends and Other Saints, I will share how the saintslike St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Sienawere friends who literally came marching into my life just when I needed them the most. And lets not forget the queen of all saints: the Blessed Mother.

My hope is that as you read this book, you will come to see why any friend of God can and wants to be a friend to you and me.