It is so important to seek the friendship of the saints. That is because they are part of the great resource that God has given us.
If there were a fantastic church, with a handful of amazing ministers, and hundreds of members of the church that were on fire in their faith, blazing new trails as to how to be authentic, lively, influential Christians in the midst of a dark and hungry world, wouldn't you want to join that church? You would not say, "Jesus is enough. I don't need to be around other Christians. My prayer life is sufficient." No! You would want to be a part of that vibrant community!
Jesus IS enough in so many ways--He is enough as the satisfaction of our hearts' desires, as the meeter of our needs, as our All in All in life. He is enough to make us happy. He is enough to save us. He is enough for eternal life.
No saint does these things. No saint is our god, the meeter of the needs of our heart, our savior, our giver of eternal life. We do not worship saints. We do not let them be our gods--that would be terrible heresy.
But saints draw us closer to Jesus. Saints are one of the ways we find Jesus, learn about Jesus, and one of the ways that Jesus comes to us, meets our needs, helps us find happiness.
We are not made to be alone with Jesus. We are made to be part of the City of God. We are meant to be part of the Body of Christ. We should be in as close a relationship as possible with the other parts of that Divine Body. We should build communities of faith here on earth. We are also free to learn about and develop friendships with saints from previous ages.
I love Mary. She is my favorite saint. She loves Jesus more than anyone possibly could--nothing on earth rivals a mother's love. I like being in the presence of one who loves Him so passionately and so completely. She rubs off on me, and helps fan the flames of my Christian love.
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