Raising Saints in the Digital Age

Photography: Communion of Saints Tapestries, Zeetz Jones, March 18, 2005, Used with Permission

In order to better remember the lives of the Saints, I place them into various categories: martyrs, mystics and visionaries, founders of orders, gifted theologians, skilled preachers, those with a seemingly radical devotion to the poor, etc. It seems that Saints’ lives often follow patterns.

Our modern culture seems so different, and not in a good way, from the days of even our 20^th century Saints. It’s made me wonder what Sainthood will look like in our children’s generation.

Is there a great theologian writing right now who, like St. Therese, will provide a whole new perspective on the path to holiness? Will the rising anti-Catholic sentiment and the advancing legal erosion of conscience rights in our country result in imprisonment and martyrdom of the faithful, particularly priests, in 50 years? 100 years? 25 years?

Can you envision our children’s path to Sainthood? A life of virtue and obedience to God’s will can lead to sainthood with a lower case “s”, but what do the lives of Saints-in-the-making (with a capital “S”) look like in the United States in the Information Age? Any ideas?

Photography: Communion of Saints Tapestries, Zeetz Jones, March 18, 2005, Used with Permission, Creative Commons, from Flickr