Faith Chat Fridays #3

My husband and I help out at our church's RCIA group every week. He went through the program last year and we wanted to stick around and help others who were deciding whether or not the Catholic faith was a good fit for them. It's been an honor serving our small group for the past 5 months; a few of them will be getting confirmed in just a few short weeks! Naturally there have been talks and discussions this past month or so about what it really means to be confirmed as a Catholic. We've also been talking more in depth about saints, and it's been so interesting to hear the reasons people have picked their confirmation saints.

You want to know why I picked mine in 9th grade?

1. It was my mom's, and I didn't feel like researching another saint.
2. It sounded pretty when said with my first and middle name.

/end laziness and vanity.

I don't even think I knew what my saint was the patron saint of until sometime in college. Saint Cecilia: the patron saint of musicians. When I found this out, I immediately regretted my choice because I am no where close to a musician. How could I pray for her intercessions when I'm not a musician?

That's when I started to learn that being a patron/patroness of a certain thing doesn't mean that's all saints are good for. Saint Cecilia converted her husband, his brother, and eventually hundreds of others in her lifetime through her unwavering dedication to Christ. She told her husband pre-conversion: "There is an angel who watches me, and wards off from me any who would touch me." (Quote from here) If we're being honest, I would be a little creeped out if my husband said that to me one night if I didn't share the same religious beliefs as him. But Cecilia's faith must have been something special because her husband immediately sought to be baptized so that he might see this angel himself.

Saint Cecilia sang out her love for Jesus Christ by living her faith. Because of this, she is regarded as a symbol as to why music is such an integral component to the liturgy. This really struck me because even though I am not a singer and I cannot play any musical instruments, I love the opportunity to sing or chant together as a community during mass. There have been plenty of times where the hundreds of voices filling our church leave me in a completely euphoric state of happiness.

Music (all music, but for the purpose of this post, Christian & Catholic songs) gives me all of the feels. It hasn't always been like that, but there's something about being on an intentional journey of faith that makes certain songs a lot more powerful. I tear up regularly during Sunday mass just because of the music selection. Our church sings quite a variety of classic and contemporary Catholic music since we go to a college church. Some songs remind me of when I was a child going to church with my mom and dad; others remind me of being on the most incredible retreat offered by many Catholic college churches.

The point of this is to remember that the saints are ordinary humans who lived extraordinary lives. They are more than just what they were named for, and we can learn a lot from how they lived their faith. I am no pro at asking for intercessory prayers but learning more about our saints and praying for their help leading us to Jesus is a mini goal of mine as of late. I just read about how some pray to saints instead of going straight to Jesus or God just like one would go talk to their older brother or sister first before going to mom and dad. And since I'm an only child, I'm kind of really in awe of having 10,000+ brothers and sisters praying for me and watching over me every single day.

Who is your confirmation saint? Do you have another saint you pray to regularly?

And on another note, what do you think about this post? My husband showed it to me and it was kind of upsetting to me. I have a deep love for the traditional music of the liturgy, but more contemporary music was what led me even closer toward Jesus because it helped me better understand the endless love he has for us all. It led me to feel the emotions I should have been feeling all of my life during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.