Aussie Saints

I smile at the hooplah surrounding the imminent canonisation of the Blessed Mary McKillop. As a dear friend commented to me, it is wonderful to think that our first Aussie Saint, according to the Roman Catholic Church, was once excommunicated by her Bishop - surely the most extreme action a Bishop can take against one of the faithful.

The church has done a great job of creating rules about something only God knows about - indeed the Christian Scriptures dare to describe all followers of Jesus as Saints.

I have become a great devotee to the idea of the Communion of Saints, and I have no problem with the idea of inviting those long dead to pray for me, just as I will ask my friends here present to pray for me. The thing that intrigues me is this idea that prayers to someone after they have died, followed by a miraculous event, are the only pathway to Canonisation.

I also wonder about the ability of someone to declare that their prayers for a miracle were absolutely and only directed to the one whose Canonisation is sought. If I was sick with terminal cancer and I asked my friends among the Communion of Saints to pray for me, how would I know whose prayer it was that God chose to listen to so that they would be able to get the credit?

And then there are the other kinds of miracles.

What about the thousands of miracles that happened in the lives of children at schools run by the Brown Joeys because someone cared enough to ensure thay had access to an education?

What about the miracles that have happened in the lives of women, inspired by Mary McKillop, who joined her religious congregation and carried on the work she began?

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands or even millions, of Australian men and women whose lives of faith and good works have brought miracles into the lives of others, and inspired many other people to live their lives in the same way, passing on the miracle of a life transformed by God. I trust that others will count me among them.