Inbox Inspiration: November 10, 2021: November - All Saints

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

November 10, 2021

 

 November – All Saints  

 

Dear Friends, 

I cannot be exactly like Saint Francis of Assisi. 

But he does inspire me to live more simply and to be at peace with others and with all of God’s creation.

I cannot be exactly like Saint Teresa of Calcutta.  

But she does move me to care for those who are hurting and look out for the little person who has less than I have. 

I cannot be exactly like Saint Maximilian Kolbe. 

But he does inspire me sometimes to sacrifice my own comforts or preferences for the good of others, maybe for the common good of all. 

And I cannot be exactly like Saint Catherine of Siena.

But she does move me to speak out for what I believe is the right or wiser thing to do.  

I think you can see what I am getting at.

Pope, Saint John XXIII put it this way. 

He said: “From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents, of their virtues.”  

He was using the Thomistic philosophical concepts of substance and accidents. 

To put it very simply, the substance is what something or someone essentially is, and the accidents are features that are not necessarily part of the substance.

It’s like saying that the substance of a wine bottle is glass shaped in such a way that it will hold liquid. 

The accidents are its height and color and features like that.

So, Saint John XXIII was telling us to take the substance of the virtues of the saints – like the simple peacefulness of Francis of Assisi. 

Take that and not so much the literal way the saints lived out the virtues.

Take their core virtues and embrace them with our own personality and according to our own vocation and in our own life circumstances. 

If we do that, the saints will inspire us in an authentic way and help to mold us in the way of Jesus.  

 

Father Michael Schleupner