The first best things

I know that what I write cannot convey what I would like, but I will try anyway. My enconters with the relics and burial places of the saints is a connection beyond time. Growing up, the saints were something other than human. The state they achieved was unatainable. Due in large part to the numerous cannonizations by John Paul, I began to see the saints as real people, people with the same struggles as I have. I began to see them as mortal. Thinking on the lives of Dominic, Catherine, Anthony, Francis and Clare, I recognize that they believe what I believe. The same is true for other giants of the faith who have not been cannonized, Michaelangelo and numerous popes. These were not superstitious, gulable people. These were intellectual, artistic and spiritual giants. They believed what I believe and believed it profoundly as evidenced in the legacies left to us. They had reasons for their faith, as do I.

The Church helps us in our belief. The relics are not sufficient for faith, but they reinforce it. In St. John Lateren's, high up above the main alter, behind a framed piece of glass, is part of the table upon which Christ celebrated the last supper. There is no sign, there is no fee to gaze upon it. It is just something the church has always kept.

Today, in Assisi, after praying beside the tomb of St. Francis, we toured the Basilica's museum. Again, without price, without fanfair, we are able to gaze upon a relic of the cross Christ bore and, if my Italian is correct, a relic of his cloak.

Several of the frescoes we have seen depict the doctors of the Church in deep discussion over a particular doctrine. These men and women have struggled intellectually with the same issues with which I have struggled. Ultimately, they have come to the same conclusion. The conclusion is that Jesus Christ, the son of God and second person of the blessed trinity, took flesh and dwelt among us. For our salvation he suffered, died and rose again. While with us he founded a Church that would point the way to peace. He made that Church his bride. Wedded to him, with the Spirit animating our lives, we become the living body of God himself.

This is what the saints believed. This is what I believe. This is the belief cradled and nourished here in Italy. Even if many of her own have forgotten it. The faith is alive and well.

Pace.