Your Patron Saint Is Actually God's Wingman

10

Imagine you're a kid again—you're a young teen standing with a group of friends in the crowded hallway at your school. Suddenly the nicest, most popular guy in school walks over. Oh my gosh, he's headed right to you! He's smiling at you! He is going to talk to you!

"My friend over there...do you know him?"

You look over in the friend's direction. Yeah, you know who he is. You can't not know. He's the ultimate. Gorgeous. Brilliant. Rich beyond imagining. Everybody wants to be him—even the people who hate him. They hate him because they envy him. As long as he's around, they can't be number one. So they insult him half the time and the other half they try to pretend he's not there. But he's impossible to ignore. Take right now. He's looking straight at you. Yet... he still seems far away. There's something mysterious about him. Maybe that's why he only has a few close friends?

Right now, one of them is talking to you. He is saying, "My friend is in love with you."

No. Way.

This is too much. He's totally out of your league. Doesn't he know what you're really like? You feel like he can look right through you. You turn back to the first guy not sure of what to say.

Your eyes meet. Now this is more like the kind of guy you can relate to. So kind. But manly too. Quiet. Courageous. Helpful. He'd do anything for you. You feel like you can tell him anything and he won't judge you. So you say, "Your friend is amazing. Too amazing. Actually, you're more my type."

I think a lot of us take a patron saint that way. Maybe you fall for them when you're a kid. It's their goodness but it's really their humanness that really gets you. You feel like they make up for what you lack, like a best friend, who challenges you to do great things, things you would never do on your own. You take them everywhere. They keep you real. You are proud of them. You even carry their picture in your wallet.

You wear their medal.

You talk to them, share confidences with them, and go to them with your problems. You cry on their shoulders. They are always ready to listen and they always have good advice. They let you know if you're wrong too. But they make you want to be good for goodness sake. (Couldn't resist. St. Nick was a saint after all.) They're a good influence. So you try to act like them.

You can never get mad at them but if you would, you have a feeling they'd understand. And the presents. Did I mention that they get you things? You ask and it's there. Whether it's help finishing a project, getting a job, or pointing out where that missing item has been hidden all along.

They protect you also—from sin, from the malice of others, and most of all, from your own stupidity. If you blow it they help you make it right again. You are stronger when they are by your side. They really are the ultimate—

Wait. A bell just went off.

Dingbat! I mean, Ding Dong! (Which is not much better.)

The saint is not the ultimate. It's the Friend, the mysterious Friend. The One who seemed so distant because you were so far away from Him.

Suddenly you see what the buddy was trying to get you to see from the beginning. That he was just the wingman. There was Somebody even better than him who loved you all along. I'm talking, long before you even existed. And yes, He really does know you. He really can see right through you. He knows you and is in love with you anyway. And He always has been.

Look at Him. Meet His gaze. Now, what do you say?

 

Find Your Forever.

CatholicMatch is the largest and most trusted
Catholic dating site in the world.

Get Started for Free!CatholicMatch
— This article has been read 1704 times —