A Saint Is Someone the Light Shines Through

Some time ago I wrote a song called ‘A Saint Is Someone the Light Shines Through.’ The title, though cumbersome, captures the idea of the song. I was inspired by something a priest said while on retreat. He spoke about a little boy who defined a saint as ‘someone who the light shines through’ because of the beautiful stained glass windows depicting saints at church. (I later found out that this is a commonly told story; even so, it did inspire my song.)

We are the saints and Christ is the light. As a Catholic, I believe we are (or should be) on the road to sainthood. But whether we believe we can be called saints now or later, our goal is to have Christ shine through us.

St. John calls Christ the Light. Think of it. Light… illuminating, warm, healing, dispelling darkness, revealing truth, filling all space… light. He says John the Baptist was ‘to bear witness of the Light, that all might through him believe.’ We can be purveyors of that Light, too. But how?

We can’t all be like John the Baptist; in fact, there are very few of us called to be like that. But we can be who we are, with the lives that God gave us, and allow the Light to shine through.

Here is a line from the song:

The Lord is an artist; He creates with our lives

Windows for His light to shine through

He uses the broken pieces of our lives

Every texture, shape and hue

Before I wrote the song, I thought about stained glass windows. The pieces are broken, irregular, jagged… but together they form a beautiful whole. Isn’t that what God does with our lives? We’re all broken, but somehow God makes us whole. And as our lives go on, as we submit ourselves to the loving hand of God, he creates the stained glass windows that the Light can shine through.

I’d like to leave you with two thoughts:

· Don’t ever think there is anything in your life that God can’t redeem as a perfect piece of the original stained glass artwork He’s creating: you!

· The chorus to the song ~ may we all live it, whatever ‘broken parts’ we have:

Shine for Jesus

Shine with the love that He gives

Shine for Jesus

Shine so the world knows that he lives