Why do we commemorate the lives of
certain persons? Historical luminaries of the Christian
community serve for us as inspiring examples of particular
qualities.
"Christians have since ancient times honored men and women whose lives
represent heroic commitment to Christ... [We] are not dealing
primarily with absolutes of perfection but human lives, in
all their diversity, open to the
motions of the Holy Spirit. Many a holy life, when carefully
examined, will reveal flaws or the bias of a particular moment
in history or ecclesial
perspective. ... And what, in one age, was taken as virtue
may at another time seem misguided." [Lesser Feasts and Fasts - 1997,
p. v]
It is this website editor's opinion
that these commemorations require careful implementation to conform to the
rationale noted above. Throughout the ages through the present time, abuses
have occurred, including veneration of pieces of saints' corpses, creating
mini-gods from the listed saints, praying to saints for favors, mistaken
inclusion of severe neurotics and psychotics among those honored, and the
creation of a Disney-like fantasy world of these persons. Such abuses serve
only as distractions from the covenant with God and from the Gospel of Christ.