Becoming Who We Are: Learning from the saints

By Brother Daniel Leckman, S. J.

One of the most wonderful aspects of my journey as a Jesuit has been the deepening of my relationship with the saints. From my days as a Jesuit novice until today, my respect, admiration and desire to learn from the saints has only increased. However, like many things in life, these relationships are complicated, and I’m slowly learning that I’m not the only who thinks so.

Our modern secular world definitely has problems with the saints. It’s so much easier to dismiss these people who heard God speaking to them in particular ways than to actually learn from their life experiences. The rational for this response is often something like: “I can’t hear God speaking to me, so if they did, they must have been crazy people in serious need of medication.” There is nothing new in this perspective. Many people in our modern world find it simpler to mock, ignore or dismiss anyone who lived in previous centuries—or even previous decades—than to accept their wisdom. So, even though I’m kind of saddened by this response, I’ve come to expect that bias against the saints from the my secular friends.