Have you ever had a saint “friend” you?
Although I was born way back in the 1900s, I know that in our online world, to have a person “friend” you means they are adding you to their list of friends on a social media site, essentially including you in their social circle and expressing an interest in building a relationship with you.
I recently had a conversation with a guy who said that Padre Pio had been friending him.
Although the concept of someone “friending” you might feel weirdly modern in the context of saints who lived a thousand years ago, I’m all in with this idea. After all, if the saints are alive, and they want to connect with us, doesn’t it seem reasonable that they’d do so in ways we’d understand and relate to?
So what does it look like to have a saint “friend” you?
Have you ever had the experience when, out of nowhere, you start noticing a saint everywhere? Maybe you come across an inspiring quote and notice it’s from a particular saint. A week later, someone randomly gives you that saint’s holy card. Then a priest mentions him or her in a homily at Mass. And maybe you notice a statue or stained glass window of the saint in your church that’s been there the whole time but you only now just noticed…what’s going on?
Well, maybe that saint is trying to friend you.
Maybe he or she has some special blessing or grace to give you. Maybe they have something helpful to teach you or a personal comfort to provide you during this particular season in which you find yourself.
I’ve written about my “Posse” of favorite saints that I regularly pray to and gain inspiration from. Well, St. Teresa of Avila has been friending me quite persistently over the past six months.
I think it started after I came across a book about mental prayer, and realized it was a summary of her formula.
Then during a visit to Holy Hill Monastery, I noticed she was featured in a giant mosaic in the front of the basilica.
Then I stumbled upon a quote of hers that caught my attention and instantly became one of my favorites: “May God protect me from gloomy saints.”
Huzzah! Proof that St. Teresa was an Adultitis Fighter!
That led me down a rabbit hole in search of more of her sayings, which uncovered these gems:
“God is even kinder than you think.”
“Every part of the journey is of importance to the whole.”
“You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”
“It is true that we cannot be free from sin, but at least let our sins not always be the same.”
“You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”
“In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.”
Pure gold! 🥇
I love that St. Teresa has a little edge to her. Some might call her “spicy.” Here’s another little tidbit that has been passed down through the years:
As St. Teresa made her way to her convent during a fierce rainstorm, she slipped down an embankment and fell squarely into the mud. The irrepressible nun looked up to heaven and admonished her Maker, “If this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few of them!”
I also found an awesome anecdote from one of her letters. Teresa was writing to Fr. Jerónimo Gracian, an important priest in her life whom she respected and trusted, and she tells him a hilarious story (alarming to her) in which a lizard crawls into her habit:
“Oh, mi padre, what a terrible thing happened to me! While we were sitting on a haystack considering ourselves lucky to have found it, next to an inn that we were unable to enter, a large salamander or lizard got in between my tunic and bare arm, and it was the mercy of God that it didn’t get in somewhere else, for I think I would have died, judging from what I felt. But my brother got hold of it at once and when he threw it away, it hit Antonio Ruiz right in the mouth.”
St. Teresa of Ávila, writing to Fr. Jerónimo de la Madre de Dios (Gracian)
As Genevieve Netherton reminds us, “Whenever you think of St. Teresa of Ávila—or any saint—as being so holy as to seem inhuman, just remember that a hysterical Teresa had to be rescued from a salamander by her brother, who then threw it in someone else’s face.”
Meanwhile, I was in the process of learning that the idea of a saint “friending” us is not so far-fetched. I started reading one of her books, and shortly thereafter was given a sticker of her at a conference I went to.
A sticker.
At the very same conference where I met the guy who told me that Padre Pio was friending him.
I may be slow, but I can take a hint. Forget friending, it almost feels like St. Teresa of Avila has been stalking me. Did I even have a choice?
In related news, it looks like my Saint Posse has increased by one. After all, I’d be foolish to say no to a doctor of the Church.
After getting to know her more, I’ve come to see her as the big sister I never had. Someone who shares my wit and love of going deep. She is showing me the ropes in mental prayer, helping me draw closer to Jesus.
And just the other day, I was looking at a journal from FIVE YEARS AGO and came across a whole page of prayer tips I thought were worth writing down.
Guess who they were from?
Yep, my big sis. Apparently, she’s been playing the long game, angling to get into my Saint Posse even before I even knew I had one!
So…keep your eyes and your heart open.
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