Saints Who Transformed Their World

Our history is filled with the stories of ordinary men and women who were raised up by God for the people and needs of their times—people through whom God did extraordinary things as they followed Jesus in the midst of his Church. In saints Who Transformed Their World, Sherry Weddell presents stories of laypeople who said "yes" to God and shared the spiritual gifts given to them by God. Be inspired by the stories of lay saints: women and men whom God has powerfully used as channels of his beauty, mercy, wisdom, healing, and provision. In these short stories, you will discover people you can relate to. Their inspirational ways of living their faith can help you to recognize your spiritual gifts and help you live every day as an intentional disciple. When each one of us faithfully answers God’s unique call in our lives, the fruit that you and I bear will be the answer to someone else’s prayer. — Sherry Weddell

How is it possible that a chain-smoking socialist, a teenage video gamer, an opium addict, a satanic high priest, a disabled beggar, and a self-absorbed mean girl became saints? Popular itinerant missionary Meg Hunter-Kilmer will stretch your preconceived notions of holiness by exploring the lesser-known lives of seventy-five extraordinary people whose human struggles and limitations reveal the power of God’s grace. Pray for Us isn’t your ordinary saint book: Hunter-Kilmer highlights the sorrows, struggles, and idiosyncrasies of broken people who turned their lives around and dedicated themselves to God and his work. Through these edgy profiles, full of fresh and fascinating stories, she explores the universal call to holiness and how God can transform anyone—from grouchy theologians to bratty teenagers—into saints. You’ll discover that anyone—even you—can become a saint if you trust in the Lord. Among those you will meet are Blessed Carlo Acutis, an ordinary Italian teen who enjoyed video games and loved the Eucharist but refused to waste time on things that weren’t pleasing to God. Blessed Sara Salkahazi, a chain-smoking socialist and wild-child from an upper-class Hungarian family who exposed the plight of the working class and smuggled Jewish people to safety during World War II. Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo, a married woman who defied the opposition of her difficult family to lead the Church in Madagascar. St. Dulce Pontes, the daughter of a wealthy family in Brazil who decided to serve the poor by becoming a nun and teaching literacy to children and their parents in the slums. Blessed Bartolo Longo, a satanic priest who returned to the Church, worked to bring people back to Christ, founded schools for the poor, established orphanages, and created Rosary groups. St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a Christian opium addict who never got clean but still had the courage to die a martyr’s death for his beliefs during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Hunter-Kilmer presents the unvarnished lives of the saints and holy people in a way that reveals the power of God’s grace in their lives. Their stories—and especially their brokenness—are relatable to us all. An extensive index that includes names, feast days, and patronages will help you find the inspiration you are looking for in the lives of these holy people.

From the cult of Saint Anne to the devotees of the Virgin of Guadalupe, from Saint Anthony who competed with Christ for popularity in Brazil, to Jesuits who mixed freely with shamans that talked with the gods, this exciting new anthology examines the conversion of the colonized. The essays examine how New World spirits transformed into Old World saints - for example, the spirit of love transfigured into the Virgin Mary - as well as the implications of the canonization of the first American saint. Colonial Saints illustrates the complex and intimate connections among confessional life writing, canonization, and the practices of the Inquisition. There was a dynamic exchange involving local agendas, the courts in Spain and France, and, of course, Rome. This bold collection clearly shows the interplay between slavery and spirituality, conversion and control, and the links between the sacred and the political.

How does God manifest himself in the world? Through the righteous lives of his holy people (the saints). As a religion of witnesses, Christianity is dependent upon its saints (defined as activated disciples) to "testify" to the grace of Christ and the kingdom of God. Their lives are walking billboards of the value of Jesus' teaching and authenticity of Christianity as an ancient spiritual pathway. This is a book about saints who are alive now, and whose everyday acts of kindness and goodness announce that God is at work in the world. Like Jesus, their Master, they are the message, the messenger, and the working model of the kingdom of God, in a lesser key. In following Jesus, ordinary saints are willing to give away their lives in order to convey the substance of their faith to a watching world. If ever there was a time when saints need to live courageously for Christ in the world, it is now. But it will take conviction, credibility, and a great deal of audacity. Ordinary Saints explores what it means to be a saint in the twenty-first century, by exploring the depth-dimensions of saints' lives, bodies, emotions, values, and relationships.