Nicole Berlucchi, Writer on a Mission

I had the absolute pleasure of being a guest on a friend’s podcast, Tripping Over the Saints (episode coming soon). Her podcast is an opportunity to discuss your favorite saint, which was so hard for me. There are so many saints I love and who have influenced and spiced up my faith life.  Seemed like a great analogy for cooking, and so today, I am writing about how the saints really do add a lot of flavor to your faith journey and enhance your relationship with God by their example and their wisdom.

Don’t worry…I am not saying God needs enhancing! He is the quintessential food for our souls which can absolutely stand alone, but Jesus chose apostles for a reason. He surrounded Himself with friends for a reason. Those people still teach us in the Gospels and in the New Testament, and the saints continue that work. They are rooted in Jesus, devoted to Him and help us discover new ways to engage with Him, incorporate Him into our daily lives and think about Him and His greatness.

As any good cook knows, seasoning is just that. It enhances the flavor, brings out something new in whatever has been seasoned. You can overpower something with seasoning, using too much might begin to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Likewise, we never want a saint to overtake Jesus in our lives, but instead invite us to experience more of Him.

What are some flavors you could use in your faith life?

Deeper Trust in God

St. Therese and St. Faustina taught me a great deal about trust. St. Therese helped me understand my littleness in relation to God’s great design and St. Faustina helped me understand that God has more mercy to give than is being claimed in this world. Both saints helped me really embrace God’s great love for me and how I could never comprehend the depths of His love which unleash His great mercy towards us. Many of the saints demonstrate great trust in God through trials they endured, but these are two powerhouses on trust that would certainly pray for you if you are seeking greater trust in God.

A Love of the Eucharist

Both the saints above would qualify here, really all of the saints would, but here are two standouts for me. St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque are two saints that teach us how powerful the Eucharist is in our lives and how transformative Holy Communion is when we open our hearts to receive the True Presence. Both saints will help you develop a reverence for the Eucharist which will foster holiness and virtue in your life.

A Deeper Appreciation for Youth in the Church

Blessed Carlos Acutis and St. John Bosco remind us in different ways of the importance of paying attention to our youth. Blessed Carlos, a youth himself, shows even the youngest among us can be on the path to sainthood using new technologies to bring a greater awareness of Jesus to others. In Blessed Carlos’s case, he was helping people know about the great Eucharistic Miracles to help those who might be lacking belief of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. St. John Bosco reminds us not to let our judgement of children cause us to leave them out of the faith and opportunities to grow in knowledge and wisdom. He was a great educator of youth, engaging them in the life of the Church and helping them become virtuous adults. He reminds us of how important children are—they are the future of the Church. He encourages us to find ways to appeal to our youth so that they recognize how valued they are within our faith communities.

Living Your Everyday Life in a Holy Way

Really all of the saints are examples of this, but two that come to mind that really helped me in practical ways as a working mom are St. Gianna Molla and St. Francis de Sales. Both saints are filled with bite size wisdom that you can tuck away in your mind when you find yourself discouraged with a busy schedule or feeling overwhelmed in life. St. Gianna’s “Live holy the present moment” and St. Francis de Sales “Live Jesus” are two reminders that help quiet my mind and remind me to take my day one step at a time, always having the opportunity to begin again if I falter in my efforts.

Contemplative Life

St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, these two have been pursuing me a lot over the last few years. St. John of the Cross has really been wrestling with me. Both saints have invited me to a deeper contemplation of God, his immense greatness, how little I could ever know about Him, and how union with Him is beyond anything I could ever imagine. They are two saints who have thought so deeply and written so much about the deep union God desires to have with us. Their writings can be very intense, but I have found if I read slowly and allow myself time to think and ponder over what they have said, I am drawn to a deeper place of contemplation about our Lord. The intimacy you will experience when you move from meditation to contemplation is a real grace and unlocks new dimensions of your relationship with the Lord. I do caution the reader who dives in—don’t get discouraged. I had to pick up and put down certain writings several times because it was so intense. The Lord will help you. Take your time; take it slow.

Finding Jesus in the Poor

St. Francis of Assisi and St. Theresa of Calcutta are two saints most people know even if they aren’t Catholic. Their hearts were so united with the poor, serving them and living among them, but their greatest lesson for us is the opportunity to encounter Jesus when we interact and serve the poor. When we see Jesus in the poor and destitute, we remind them of their dignity, and they remind us how important it is to care for and love one another. In our world so many people are spiritually poor, even if they are materially wealthy. St. Francis and St. Theresa remind us to constantly look for Jesus in the people we encounter and to treat them with the dignity with which we would treat Jesus.

Developing a Relationship with Mother Mary

St. John Paul II and St. Maximillian Kolbe are two saints that have really enhanced my understanding of Mary and how she intercedes for each of us. As Jesus’ mother, she wants the price He paid for our Redemption to reach every soul, losing none to hell. These two saints will teach you how she intercedes for us, how she gave us the Rosary to draw us into deep meditation and constant contact with Jesus’ incarnation, public ministry, Passion and Resurrection, as well as His promises of eternal life, and how she can help us to do God’s will humbly and obediently. There are so many saints beyond these two that could help you learn more about Mary and her role as Mediatrix of Grace, but these are two great saints to start with.

Mary Herself

There are so many titles and apparitions of Mary that are worth exploring and diving into. Saints associated with a variety of her apparitions are also great advocates for helping you know her, being devoted to prayer and the Eucharist, being repentant as sinners, and being obedient to God. Of her many titles, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Guadalupe are a few that have resonated most with me. All of her titles point us to Jesus and remind us of where a life a humble obedience and heroic virtue leads us: eternity.

Really all of these saints could be listed under the various subtitles here. They are all-purpose seasoning in many cases, but these are some particular areas where they have helped me add flavor to my faith life. There are a number of other saints who have walked with me as well: St. Joseph, St. Padre Pio, St. Maria Goretti, St. Paul, St. John the Evangelist, St. Francis Xavier, St. Anne, and so many more.

If you are looking for a saint to help you grow in a particular way, an internet search can often lead you to the right one, but also pay attention to who is popping up around you—has a friend mentioned a saint recently, have you found a holy card with a saint on it, was a saint’s feast day celebrated on a date that is special to you, these might be ways a saintly friend is trying to get your attention to let you know they are walking with you. Pay attention! You might just find yourself, tripping over a saint and spicing up your faith life!