This piece from the Guardian Belief section is rather timely given my recent experiment in posting the saint for the day – sometimes with a touch of irony, sometimes with a few related ideas.

Remembering back to my childhood, listening to older OC relatives talking about (Marian) devotional practice in particular taking pains to point out that the “roman” customs are excessive. Hmmm . . . interesting.

So how do we indie folk view the saints now, in this modern world of ours. Do we expect a saint to be a miracle worker or can a saint simply be an exemplar of faith and wisdom? How do the feastal commemorations of the saints “fit” in our contemporary sacramental life?

Seeing this one out – I offer you a few lines from St. Proklos . . . . on the saints (grin):

All martyr festivals are wonderful, they resemble  the brilliance of the stars. Just as the stars in heaven are fixed in place and distinct from one another, they are all well known, and they shine upon the whole sphere of the earth;  and the same one Indians see, is not hidden from Scythians; on land it flashes and illuminates the sea, and guides those who sail; on account of the multitude we do not know the names of all of them, but because of their beauty, we are amazed at their brilliance. It is this way with each of the saints; for although their relics are enclosed in graves, their power is not circumscribed under heaven.  It is possible for you to learn from these same things, and what is said is true. Palestine has the relics of Abraham, and his hut rivals Paradise. For there God was the one who spoke against Adam,  here he was entertained as a stranger by the patriarch.  One grave envelops the bones of Joseph,  and the limits of the inhabited world are astonished at the battle against the Egyptian woman.  To Moses, no monument is found,  and after death he proclaims Him who through the staff divided the Red Sea.  We do not know where Isaiah is interred, and the whole church declares through his prophecy: “Behold the virgin will have in the womb, and will bear a son.”  Daniel was buried in Babylon, and through the whole earth he proclaims: “Behold upon the cloud of heaven, one comes as the Son of Man.”  Ananias and the youths with him fell asleep in Babylon, and through them the whole inhabited world each day shouts: “All the works of the Lord, praise the Lord!”  Ezekiel is buried with the Persians, and along with the Cherubim proclaims: “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from his [dwelling] place.”  Thus, the Devil profited nothing in Paradise by killing Adam  for, through death, God opened the gates of freedom to the just.

- Proklos Homily 5.1, my translation