Catholic Bible 101
Answering the Question "Where is it in the Bible?"
Meet the SAINTS !
The saints of the Holy Catholic Church lived exemplary lives, giving up the temporary pleasures of earth for the eternal joy of Heaven. Their lives were marked by a sincere wish to imitate the life of Christ. St. Paul says in Hebrews 13:7 to imitate them. It is important to understand what "the communion of saints" means to us as Catholics. Most Protestants don't know anything about what it means, but as Catholics, it is a very important component of our faith. A lot of people think that they are dead and gone, but that would violate the very words of Jesus, who said in Luke 20:38 that "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living".The Catholic Church is a family; it is not "me and my bible".
These saints are our family members who have gone before us, and are now part of "The Church Triumphant". They pray for and intercede for us, "The Church Militant", here on earth. Their lives were not marked by the "health and wealth" gospel preached today by so many TV preachers. Rather, their lives were marked by just the opposite, as they gave up health and wealth now for the eternal treasure of heaven.
The list of Saints on this page includes some of the more famous saints, but it is by no means inclusive. Each link takes you to a short biography of the saint, and takes a couple of minutes to read. It is time well spent if you are looking to be inspired.
And the really good news is that each and every saint is waiting for you to ask him/her to pray for you (Revelation 5:8 & 8:3). Why should you do this? Because, according to James 5:16, the prayers of a holy person are very powerful. And no one on earth is more holy than someone already in heaven. Another reason is that saints in heaven don't sleep, and can pray for you every minute of every day.
Why are the saints so powerful?
John 17:20-23: "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.
2 Peter 1:3: "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature."
Luke 20:35-36: but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 6:17: But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Ephesians 2:19-20: Now, therefore, you are no longer visitors and new arrivals. Instead, you are citizens among the saints in the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and of the Prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone.
More Saints
Here is a more comprehensive list of saints.
Here is a list of patronages of the saints.
Here is the Calendar of saints.
