Soap Opera Wisdom

Sr. Mary Magdalene

Can Wisdom be found in “Daytime Drama”?  Well, perhaps, but what I’m going for here is more about the “drama” that plays out in our daily lives.

As many may be aware, The Church celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1st.  This Solemnity reminds us of all the members of our spiritual family who have gone before us and find themselves bathing in the Beatific Vision. (In Christian theology, the beatific vision (Latin: visio beatifica) is the ultimate direct self-communication of God to the individual person. A person possessing the beatific vision reaches, as a member of redeemed humanity in the communion of saints, perfect salvation in its entirety, i.e. heaven.)  All Saints Day is a celebratory reminder that we are in “communion” with this legion of saints for the purpose of adoring and praising God AND for encouraging those of us still living through their lives and their prayers on our behalf!  This got me to thinking about saints past and present and what meaning it might have for us in the here and now.  Being a little goofy, the titles of several Soap Operas from my growing up bounced around in my consciousness as I pondered.
 
Days (Saints) of Our Lives
For most of us, when we speak about the Saints, we likely think of the Saints of Scripture such as St. Paul (the writer of all those letters to the early Christian communities, think: Corinthians, Ephesians, Romans…) or perhaps St. Peter (the first Pope!).  We may even wander into some of the heavy hitter saints of medieval and early modern times such as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Dominic de Guzman, or St. Joan of Arc (anything but the fire, Lord!).  If we are up on our Catholic current events (which is humorously considered anything in the past 50 years), the names of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Pope John Paul II or St. Gianna Molla might spring to our minds.

But what do these and other saints have to do with the present day drama of our daily lives?  The short answer is that the lives of the saints give us hints into holiness.  The conviction with which they loved is a pointer to a life lived in Christ, that is, the Christian life.  St. Francis and St. Mother Teresa’s lives tell us something about true love for the poor.  St. Teresa of Avila and St. Dominic teach us something about perseverance in prayer and the importance of growing in knowledge and love of God.  St. Joan of Arc’s life is a model of courage, St. Pope JPII of redemptive suffering and St. Gianna of a love that sacrifices her own life for that of her unborn child.  (I encourage you to learn more at the hyperlinks provided!)  And these are only the canonized saints!  Canonization is the official process by which the Catholic Church analyzes the lives of holy people and prayerfully reflects on everything known about them in order to “officially” declare that they are likely enjoying eternal life in heaven. The Church doesn’t “make” a saint; rather, the Lord makes a saint!  And Jesus wants to help you and I to becoming saints, too.  We may never have a famous name officially recognized by the Church, but if we desire to grow in holiness, we too can share a life in heaven with God and all His angels and saints.
 
All My (God’s) Children
Well, you may ask, if all God’s children are called to be saints, how is it that we don’t see more of them?  I once heard it said that Mr. Rogers (of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood fame) told of the time his mother encouraged him to “look for the helpers”.  She said that in times of fear or trouble, one should always look for the helpers amid the chaos.  We all have holy helpers in our lives.  Perhaps they might be a family member or friend, a religious or clergy, perhaps even a stranger that came unexpectedly into our lives.  Of course they won’t be wearing a halo just yet!  All human creatures have faults and failings, but many will also have shining moments (or very quiet moments) of goodness flowing from a desire to love God and neighbor (to be holy!).  Look for the holy helpers in your life. Notice the simple acts of kindness, gentle reminders of goodness, acts of courage or even loving correction that enter into our lives and call  to our own desire for holiness.   Each of us has the very real potential for unselfish, loving, even holy, moments. The desire to seek God and his Ways is imprinted on us at our baptism!  Look for the holy helpers amid All God’s Children.
 
General (Field) Hospital
Can you hear the title “Saint” in front of your own name?  Perhaps, like me, that brings a little chuckle.  But the truth is that you and I are called to be saints!  We are destined for a life in heaven with the Most Blessed Trinity, all the canonized saints and (hopefully) many, many friends and relatives.  But first, we must desire to be holy.  The word holy means set apart, sacred.  In the case of God, it could be argued to also mean Otherness, such as God is completely “other”.  When scripture speaks of God’s holiness it is in 3’s!  Holy, Holy, Holy!  Culturally this was used to connote God’s dominant feature of out-of-this-world holiness.  You and I, we can take the first baby steps along this path by simply desiring to love and follow God’s way.  Thomas Merton, monk-spiritual writer-poet, once wrote a prayer in which he says, “.. I believe that the desire to please you (God) does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.” (see full text of  Merton’s prayer/poem below)  So you see, striving for holiness can have very humble beginnings!

What does all this have to do with General (Field) Hospital?  Pope Francis once referred to the Church as a field hospital; a place where wounded and hurting humanity has a first encounter with hope and healing.  But just as a medic on the battle field simply administers initial first aid (and words of encouragement!) without any knowledge of a patient’s past medical history, so must we simply respond to others with love.  We are called to be everyday saints in a world so desperately in need of hope and healing!  There is time for even greater healing, teaching, guiding, but first; we meet people, our family, our co-workers, our community, our world in the messiness of our very real lives.  Fr. Ken Letoile, the present Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph, Order of Preachers, recently shared a favorite phrase among Dominicans.  “We enter through their door and leave through our own.”  I believe the spirit of the message is that we meet people where they are and help bring them to where Jesus is.  Our Baptism calls us to be holy helpers.

Many years ago, when I was in undergraduate school, I took a 2-credit elective in Radio and TV.  I don’t remember much about the class, but I do remember one pearl about the Soap Opera genre.  According to the instructor, if you could only catch your Soap Opera on one day a week, you should make it a Wednesday.  This is because, he declared, on Monday and Tuesday the story tended to re-cap what happened the week before.  On Wednesday, there would be some new twist (the meat of the story). On Thursday and Friday they would just dwell on and fill out whatever happened on Wednesday.  So here is your “Wednesday summary” of Soap Opera Wisdom.  (1.) Bring the Saints into the Days of Our Lives.  Make them true friends and Holy Helpers from heaven.  (2.)Next, Look for the holy helpers among  All (God’s) Children.  Learn from good mentors and examples in your own life. They are there!  Look carefully.  Be emboldened and made hopeful by their love, perseverance, joy.  And (3.), be a holy helper in the (Field) Hospital of our hurting world.  Meet people with a gentleness that contains true compassion and caring.  Lead them, through Love, to the Truth of the Gospel.
 
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Prayer of Thomas Merton)