On Saints and Awesomeness

I am Catholic because of the saints.  Almost more than any other witness to the truth of the Faith, they've really cinched the deal for me. An appreciation from the Why I'm Catholic blog:

...I wrote here about one of the Marines that every new recruit is taught about when he is undergoing either Marine Corps Recruit Training (boot camp) or Officer Candidates School (OCS). The Marine I am referring to is Sergeant Major Dan Daly. Was he a Catholic? Who knows? And frankly, that's not the point.

The point is that the Marine Corps teaches all of her warriors her history. And if you like, you can think of Dan Daly, along with Smedley Butler, John H. Quick, Chesty Puller, O. P. Smith, Samuel Nicholas, John A. Lejuene, et al (I could go on naming Marines for hours) as the Marine Corps equivalent of the Communion of the Saints here in the Church Militant. I have so much fun learning their names and reading about their heroic exploits! Talk about “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty”!

I don't know much, but I do know this: Marines who have been “canonized” by the Corps were ordinary Marines who responded extraordinarily in a combat situation. A freshly minted private who has just graduated from boot camp is just as much a Marine as the hero Captain Kurcaba, whose bravery was written about by his comrade Joseph R. Owen in his memoir Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir...

The saints are a lot like that to me too. Would you agree? Their exploits of daring are frightening and yet inspiring at the same time. Whether we’re talking about Joan of Arc or Charles Borromeo each challenges us to be better Christians the way the heroes of the Corps taught me to be a better Marine...as Christians, each one of us is called to the Priesthood. Maybe not Holy Orders, but the Royal Priesthood all the same. If you don't want this, then you joined the wrong outfit. If you were born into this, guess what, you still have to earn the title. Because Marines are made and not born, and so are Catholics.

But don't worry and please don't forget the mission of Our King’s Church: to save souls, at any cost. Most of us haven't been called into the Church’s equivalent of the Officer Corps (Holy Orders). But we can still serve with distinction, whether we are butchers, bakers, or candle-stick makers. Again, one of the heroes of the Church (St. Francis of Assisi) serves as an example to me. “Preach the Gospel always,” he said. “Use words if necessary.” Also, there is no age requirements (17 - 28 to enlist) either and no minimum or maximum(6 - 8 years) contract length. Heck you can even get "out" and rejoin! Or join on your deathbed; just ask Oscar Wilde...

Mother Church has remembered Her heroes and canonized them in the Communion of the Saints so that by their “conspicuous gallantry” they can demonstrate to both raw Catholic recruits and grizzled Catholic veterans how to be good Catholic Christians...