Excerpt: BOFAW, Chap. 9, Gratefulness.
“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my
inner and outer life depend on the labors of other
men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in
order to give in the same measure as I have received
and am still receiving.” Albert Einstein
It has been written that heroes carry torches to light a pathway for others; saints are living torches that blaze trails for others to follow.
Nelson Mandela’s body died last week, but his spirit will shine throughout the world until the end of humanity. I quickly added him to my book of saints. By dying he has joined an elite pantheon which includes Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa and Dr. Martin Luther King who dedicated their lives trying to emulate Jesus Christ. Although, in our increasingly secularized society, it is becoming less and less important to celebrate the lives of saints, the Advent Season encourages people of all walks of life to do just that. Saint Paul deserves some consideration. He is credited with writing over one half of the New Testament. The Bible is regarded by many scholars, authors, poets, sociologists, and anthropologists as the world’s greatest book. Charles Dickens agreed with this assessment and added that it is the greatest book that will ever be written. Annual sales exceed 100 million copies. A study done in 2008 estimated that over 4 billion copies have been published in thousands of languages. If this is so, is not even arguable that St. Paul is the greatest author who has lived on Earth.
While I strongly support the US Constitutional law of separation of church and state, I find it ironic that, in a nation whose laws are based on the Ten Commandments, that the Bible has been banned in nearly all public schools. It is sobering to recall that when the USSR was at its peak of power, a primary goal of the KGB was to seek out and destroy all Bibles. People were so desperate to get a copy that they would pay a month’s salary for a tattered copy of the banned book.
Paul’s famous passage describing love, in a letter to the Corinthians, is probably the most widely used passage in weddings around the world. The passage summarizes all of his writing by suggesting that the three greatest spiritual gifts are faith, hope and love, with love being the greatest.
Although the physical, mental and spiritual evolution of man seems to have taken a circuitous, even convoluted path, it is sobering to wonder where we would be without the guidance of the saints.
I have hundreds of major and minor saints in my “Book of Saints,” a few of them are Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Newton, Galileo, Mendel, Wallace, Darwin, Einstein, George Washington Carver, Thoreau, Emerson, Muir, Eiseley, Lincoln, Dr. King, and most recently Nelson Mandela. All of these men were men of great faith whose visions greatly exceeded their own egos as they generated light in an often darkened world.
Sadly, in a terrible twist of irony, wars often provide the opportunity for heroes and saints to rise to great heights while overcoming evil. And, while many may become super-heroes, the acts of “the little people” are important also.
Many years ago I read an account of scores of such nameless little people. The German army was marching through France on their way to conquer Paris. The clergy in charge of the world-famous cathedral of Notre Dame were deeply concerned about the probability of being bombed by Nazi airplanes. They quickly organized a team of workers who built scaffolding up to the Great Rose window. The window is considered one of the world’s finest examples of stained glass. Workers painstakingly removed each piece and applied a label and number. All of the pieces were buried in a 30 foot deep hole. After the war ended each piece was unearthed and returned to its proper place. I doubt that anyone of the names of the workers is remembered, however, they all contributed to a work of art that has inspired millions of people for nearly 70 years.
The opening quote from Albert Einstein is an excellent description of the purpose of the Advent Season. Combining it with St. Paul’s challenge to extend our appreciation and practice of faith, hope and love, just might be what Christmas is really all about.
Merry Christmas. LY