39: Befriending the Saints | Jana Zuniga

I, um, when I opened my shop, I had a handful of my art prints and then these saint Polaroid prints, which are pretty much just, they look like Polaroid pictures, but they have Instead of a photo of, you know, your friends that you know, it's a photo of a saint. And, um, yeah, those really took off, um, five years ago. And since my shop has just evolved into more of a Catholic lifestyle boutique, um, I love it. It's really fun. That's been my full time job for the last, um, yeah, five years.

And, um, other than that, I, yeah, I'm a cradle Catholic, um, grew up in a big Catholic family. I love my faith. Um, I have loved the saints since I was a young girl. So definitely excited to share more about that. And, um, to talk about, yeah, how awesome they are. So,

And I feel like it hasn't really been until like the past year or so that I've really felt a desire to nudge, to really like dive into like, what can I learn from the saints? Who are these amazing role models that we have? How can I have a relationship with them?

Um, and I think that they're, you know, Catholics and not, there's people that, are just maybe intimidated by the saints and maybe don't have a full understanding of like what their role is in our lives or, you know, are intimidated by the fact that they are saints. So we have this idea that they were just these like perfect people that never sinned. Um, and that's why they're in heaven. And I know that's far from the truth. And so I'm excited to talk today about.

The saints, how do we befriend them? How do we have relationships with them and how can we be inspired by them? Um, and I know that Jaina has so much to share here and has just such a love for the saints. So she was a perfect guest to bring on. Um, so let's just kick it off. Why are the saints such an integral part of our Catholic faith? What do you feel like, what kind of role do they play and why does the church really encourage us to have devotions to saints in the first place?

Went on to be in heaven. So they when we talk about the kingdom of God we're also talking about the Saints and I think the church really encourages devotion to them because Because they are such wonderful models for us who are trying to figure out how to apply, um, the gospel to our lives and we get to see how they did it and how beautifully they did it. And that's not to say they did it perfectly or successfully, but, um, the church does encourage us to look to them as role models in our faith.

Obviously Jesus is our primary role model. Um, and he's a superstar and You know, he was perfect.

They had a super crazy party life before they converted, you know, you read these things and you're like, Oh, and yet they became saints and got to heaven. So like, there's some really like tangible things we can learn from and it gives us a lot of hope as well of like,

Uh, we're not worshiping mary So how do we kind of like differentiate how we approach god and how we approach the saints

And then there's a sub paragraph that says we worship Christ as God's son. We love the martyrs as the Lord's disciples and imitators and rightly so because of their matchless devotion toward their king and master. May we also be their companions and fellow disciples. So that says specifically we worship Christ, but we love the saints. Like we have affection for them. we, we honor them. We think they're worthy of imitation. So We revere them. Um, but that's not the same as worship.

Um, I think we do treat the saints, or at least I have in my life, um, as real friends, um, and people who are accompanying us on our journey to heaven. And so I think, yeah, there, that's just a very clear distinction. Um, We're not, you know, we're not worshiping them. We're not idolizing them. Um, I'm sure it's possible for people to idolize them, but that's not what the church encourages. Um, it's really just using them as examples. Um, and I always like to call them my cheerleaders.

Like I love to imagine them in heaven cheering for me because they're there. know what I'm doing. They They can see my struggles and they can relate to the struggles that I'm going through. And, um, and they want us to be with them, you know?

And that's exactly what we ask the saints to do for us and because we believe that they're in heaven And because we believe they're closer to jesus than our friends on earth are Um, we believe that their intercession is all the more powerful because of that

And that was at the same time that I was just like, learning what prayer was, learning what it was like to have a personal relationship with Jesus versus just like, A checkbox catholic that just like went to mass once a week. You know what I mean? And I devoured Like every page of that book st. Faustina's diary and I mean don't get me wrong. It's a huge

Like there was never anybody older than me, like besides my parents, like there was never like an older sister or like a friend that was a few years older than me or a friend that was like more into their faith than I was that could like guide me. I didn't have missionaries on my or anything like that.

And so when I started reading this diary, I truly felt like St. Faustina was discipling me and I truly felt like through learning about her and through hearing, like reading her prayer and how she spoke to Jesus and like what she brought to him and how she developed her relationship with him, like all these things, I was like, Oh, I can do that. I can approach Jesus this way. Like, I can talk to him this way. And I felt like really, there was this like relationship of discipleship in that.

And then you start to develop a relationship with them and you read, you know, if there's a book available about their life story or something they wrote or a book about their spirituality, Um, you just develop this closeness with that particular person, and because they're real and they, they did live on this earth, like, I feel like there's so much opportunity to, you know, learn about their real life, and then feel like you actually know them.

And now, with modern saints, we have video footage of some saints who are in the process of being canonized. Um, And so, you know, whether or not it's a newer saint or an old saint, I think it's, you know, having a saint friend looks like, um, you know, learning about one particular saint and then asking them to help you in the particular situations that you find difficult in your walk with the Lord, you know, and asking for their intercession.

And I think when people do that, that bond becomes stronger with that saint because a lot of times they'll pray novena to that saint and that saint will like send them a little god wink from heaven on the day that their novena ended or they'll send them little signs from heaven, which is so beautiful and I think that that like furthers your conviction that that saint also in companionship with you like you're not just looking to them, but they have their eyes on you on earth and they have you

know, want to be close to you as well. And they want, um, to walk with you. So friendship with the saints, I think is, um, just so beautiful and really can enrich, um, your relationship with the Lord, because I think that's the whole point too. Like, I think it's important to recognize that the whole point and the church says this, that like, Friendship with the Saints is really the goal is to become closer to Christ.

And because they're so close to Christ in Heaven, like, getting to know them will naturally bring you closer to the Lord. Um, and naturally make you want to grow in virtue and imitate the virtues that you see in them. And, um, gosh, Saints like Saint Faustina, I mean they, Jesus appeared to her and spoke to her. And so like in the process of learning about St. Faustina, you literally are discovering things that the Lord spoke prophetically through her.

And you're discovering about the Lord, like so directly because

And, um, so I have very early memories of, you know, my parents really the saints to be our role models. And I'm so thankful for that. Um, my mom, she talks a lot about how important it is for like adolescent kids, like young teenagers to have people outside of the church, parents to look up to and to know, I think at that age your parents aren't cool anymore and like you need Cool people to follow who are also following the lord. Um, and

It was more like We learn about the saints, we dress up as them for All Saints Day, and, um, my mom was, you know, like, an avid Novena prayer, so, we were always praying different Novenas to different saints, and asking them to intercede for us, um, not all of us were named after saints, surprisingly, but, yeah, I think, of the first saints I remember being very drawn to, I'm pretty sure I was, I don't know, 13, maybe even younger, but I started learning about blessed Chiara Padano who died of

bone cancer at the age of 18. And so she was this teenager who had so much joy for the Lord and wanted to offer all of our suffering for Jesus. She literally declined the opportunity to have morphine when she was going through her chemotherapy. Um, because she wanted to like offer more for the Lord, but it talked about how she was super fun. She loved to sing. She loved to dance. She loved to play tennis. Like I loved sports and she played soccer and I was like, I play soccer.

And I, you know, like there was just, I could see myself in her because she was so young and she was beautiful. And so I remember really bring being drawn to her when I was, um, a teenager. And then John Paul II also, he passed away when I was, I think 14. And he was someone my parents had, know, they just loved John Paul II. He became Pope when they, um, the year that they got married. And so my family loved John Paul II and then he quickly became a saint.

And so, I don't know at what point he was canonized. I don't remember how old I was. But, um, he was someone who I really looked up to. And St. Gianna was the other one who, um, my mom named our young, or at the time it was our youngest sibling. Um, she named her after St. Gianna. And there's this whole other story that would take too long to tell you about, um, my sister Gianna, but I was really involved in the pro life movement, um, in college.

And so St. Gianna then became of, yeah, like I said, a cheerleader for me because, um, she, if people aren't familiar with her story, I will say quickly, um, Gianna was, Diagnosed with cancer when she was pregnant with her daughter and the doctor said, you know You can have an abortion so that we can you know Give you the treatment you need to save your life and she said no I want to carry my baby to term and give life to my child first and she did that and then Sadly did not survive.

And so she passed away and a lot of pro life advocates really um Asked for the intercession and mothers, um, asked for the intercession of Saint Gianna.

So She, you know, just naturally she became it was she was someone I was already very aware of growing up and then Um as I got involved in the pro life movement, it just made sense Um to kind of ask for her intercession through all of that Um, so anyways Yeah, there has been always been these saints that like, just naturally feel like I'm drawn to them for some reason and then after reading more about their lives, um, I'm more inspired and want to continue to ask them to help me get to heaven.

So, yeah, there's, you know, I feel like depending on the season of life I'm in, it kind of changes. when people ask me my favorite saint is, I'm always like, know. Like there are so many amazing ones and I don't know if I could choose. And I feel like I have a different favorite saint every couple of years, you know, um, like Chiara, servant of God, Chiara Petrillo. Um, she lost two babies, um, and then got cancer during her third pregnancy.

And she had, she suffered a ton and like she's someone as now that I'm married, um, and desperately desire to have children, like she, her mother, her journey was so painful and filled with so much suffering. And so like now she's someone who has increasingly became, um, a good friend to me in just like knowing about her story and knowing that she suffered a lot too in her vocation. So

And like certain saints, um, yeah, either just, you know, you'll hear the term like saints docking and like, they'll pop up everywhere or they'll just like, Choose you and what I have been reflecting on to is when I chose a confirmation saying I got confirmed. I think when I was like 16 or something like that in high school, and I hadn't I didn't really have any relationships with any saints. Um,

And I had no idea when I picked her to be my patron saint when I was 16, like, How much of a role she would play in my life now in asking for her intercession

And I, while we, we never were pregnant while I had them, I wore those earrings to several really big and kind of scary, like doctor's appointments that I had to face and different procedures that I had to go through. And. There was just this, like, strength and this closeness that I drew from having Just that little piece of St. Gianna with me through this journey. Um, and so to think back, like when I was 16 and I was trying to pick a confirmation saying, and I was like, Oh, who do I pick?

And it was like, Oh, St. Gianna sounds cool. Um, I also picked her for the pro life aspect as well, because I, my mom was a teen pregnancy, basically she was 19 and, um, she, she chose life after some battling back and forth of what she should do. And so very grateful to. Yeah, to the pro life saints as well. So it's just really cool to know that they, like, they know who you are too. And they like sometimes choose you as much as you choose them.

Books out there and make it part of like I've always tried to make it part of my like prayer routine so sometimes there's books that are like a lot more spiritually heavy like the um The diary of saint faustina is like you're reading, you know literally straight up words from jesus to saint faustina and it's like Stuff that you can really really pray with sometimes it's more of just like a biography of the saint But So depending, you know, I don't want to say like it should totally replace your

prayer time with the Lord and like conversation with God But I think tacking on like a saint book or some type of saint spirituality book um with your prayer time is a really Um nice way to just naturally build it in so you're not like I have to like read this whole book But just like i'm gonna read five pages After my prayer time every day. Um and And So yeah, I think picking a saint book is a really good first step.

Um, and I think after that you start to feel like you know that saint better and you can ask them to help you. Like, don't be afraid to actually call upon their help, um, when you need their help for a certain thing. And it doesn't have to be related to like, oh, they're the patron saint of, you know, pregnancies, so I have to like, choose one of the, like, I can only ask them for help if I'm pregnant. Like, no, you can ask them for help in whatever you need help with.

Um, but I think that's also giving them an opportunity to, and to like show up for you in your life and to, um, I'm actually not like the best at, you know, doing novenas and you know, like I've never done like the, know, pray to St. Teresa of nine days and look for a rose. Like, you know, a lot of people enjoy doing that and you don't have to do that, but that's like definitely an option, um, of, you know, giving that saint an opportunity to.

Send you a consolation from heaven, you know, um, so those are the two bigger things that come to my mind. Um, I think it's really fun to celebrate their feast days. And so I think again, if you get to know them, you genuinely grow an affection for them and you like genuinely feel love for them. And I think.

In the same way that you want to celebrate your, your friends on your birthday, like we celebrate their heavenly birthday and those, um, a lot of times I think a feast day of a saint looks like, you know, what would them happy? And it's usually like, okay, I'm going to go to mass.

I'm going to, um, know, go serve the poor because they love serving the poor or I'm going to pray a rosary because they loved Mary and they also loved the rosary and so it's like you know naturally going to um It should naturally be something that is prayerful and um a way for you to You know be closer to Christ on that day by also um being closer to that saint and Doing things that they would've done when they were alive, so,

The saints would want to be friends with everybody, or like, anybody can have a relationship with a saint, but what if, you know, what would you say to someone who feels intimidated by the idea of befriending a saint, and maybe even, like, has a feeling of, like, I'm not holy enough, you know, to have a relationship with somebody in heaven, or like, why would they be praying for me?

are each born into a very specific family life. Um, we each have, um, yeah, a specific, you know, history and we have specific wounds.

And so I think it's like, first mercy on yourself and know that like the Lord exactly what you're dealing with and he knows exactly, um, crosses that he's given you and I think Yeah, when we start like looking at other saints know that like we're not the same person as them so holiness is going to look different on everyone and Yeah, holiness on me is gonna look different than holiness on you marie and the next person.

Um, so like you know with looking at I think it's really hard when we look at saints who are like super super old because like Like the culture is totally different and our world was totally different back then. But like you were born to be a saint in 2024 and whatever time period you're in, in this particular culture, in the digital age and the specific temptations that we have in, you know, our generation. But also, God is asking you to be a saint.

in the particular circumstances that he's placed you in, you know? So I feel like that should give you some freedom to know that like, I don't have to look exactly like this saint. I can take lessons from them. I can learn from their example.

I can see, and it's good, I think, to admire them and to aspire to, you know, like someone who maybe seems like they're holier than we are but we don't know like what they were dealing with We don't know What they said in confession like some things we do know that they had a very sinful past and I think it is refreshing if you're feeling like shame about your past or shame about Um, how holy you are or whatever that you're not good enough.

Like I think there are a lot of saints out there who maybe it is encouraging for you to see like they you know have a very rough past and a rough history and By the grace of god, they were able to become saints and I think that that's something I like to emphasize a lot um when I talk about aspiring to be a saint is that like We should believe that We all can become saints the grace of God.

And like, we should have that confidence, um, to say that like we, every single one of us has what it takes and not by our own merits, but by the graces that God wants to give us. And so all of these saints, like, yes, they had to do the work, but everyone who was a saint was given tremendous grace. And you should be asking for that grace to become a saint and to be.

You know to grow in whatever virtue you need to um It's it's not supposed to come easily, you know but I think if you're intimidated that is okay, and that's normal but Um, yeah, I just think it's important to know that like you have a very specific um calling that's unlike anyone else, you know

You know, like their story wasn't the same and the way they got to heaven wasn't the same and their crosses weren't the same And so there was different levels of grace that the lord desired to pour over them different levels of suffering different levels of desolation and consolation That all added up to their journey to heaven and so I think that's what is so beautiful is like like you said, it's just It's just our family in heaven.

It's just like made up of a bunch of real humans who were on earth who had real human experiences. And just like our human experiences vary, so did theirs. And so you have St. Paul, who used to be Saul and went around killing Christians. You'd never think someone like that would be a saint, right? But the Lord gave him the necessary grace to turn his life around and To be in heaven.

And then you have St. Therese, who like the smallest little thing, she would think she's like the worst person alive, and you read her story and you're like, oh no, like, I'm nowhere near her, you know, but the Lord gave her the necessary suffering, the necessary grace. For her journey to become a saint. So it is encouraging to know that everybody's walk is different. Um, uh, I think I want to end on just like some glory stories.

Like if you have any saint stories, um, either in your life or friends and family that you've heard, I would love to hear those and share those with our listeners so people can just hear like the reality of how saints are participating in our lives.

Um, and I decided to do a 30 day novena to St. Joseph, um, to find my future husband. Um, this is a really beautiful novena. I feel like not a lot of people actually know about that, but it's 30 days for the 30, the 30 years that Jesus spent with his family? Yeah, right.

Um, and that was really the start of our really like, not immediately, but probably about a month or so later we started dating. Um, and it wasn't until like we were, you know, like well into dating that I realized like, Oh my gosh, I was literally praying that Novena had to find my future husband while like While our relationship was pretty much re blossoming. Um, so that was like, really significant for me. And because of that, St. Joseph kind of became our patron as a couple.

Um, and we prayed a novena to him, like, while we were, um, engaged. And, um, you know, leading up to our wedding. And Um, you know, have just used him as a model for us. Um, and so, and Tim's full name is Joseph. So that was kind of cool too. Um, but then when we got married, we, um, started trying to have a baby right away and, um, have been on this journey of infertility and trying to conceive. So last year we. decided we were going to spend Thanksgiving in Vermont with his family.

And that happened to only be about three hours away from the Oratory of St. Joseph, which is something that, uh, St. Andre Bresset had built in his lifetime. He had a huge devotion to St. Joseph. And it's the largest shrine to St. Joseph in the world. So we were like, we should probably go. Um, we're only going to be a couple hours away. So we went over.

Montreal in Canada, across the border, and we were able to pray, um, at the tomb of Saint Andre Bessette and, um, have mass in the crypt, and it was a beautiful experience. Um, but that was over Thanksgiving, and then we conceived for the first time the next month in December. Um, and already know this, Mari, that did not survive. Sadly, we had a miscarriage, but was a huge consolation for us because we had been trying to conceive for three and a half years leading up to that.

Um, and so while, you know, I could say like, well, the prayers didn't work, know, the baby didn't make it all the way, but I still really feel like that was a huge consolation that St. Joseph gave us that we were able to conceive.

definitely if you feel like you need to find saints that are more relatable, um, lots of relatable saints I think because they're so modern in that book. Um, they're all like little tiny snapshots. that I think can at least spark your curiosity. If you want to figure out like if you want to go deeper with one of those saints, you can kind of like go shopping for a saint friend in that book.

Um, so yeah, I think also my favorite like customer for this book are catechumens, like people who, Are coming into the faith and they want to get this book because I feel like it is it's meant to be really approachable I've had even people who are not catholic purchase this book um, which I think Yeah, I think it's meant to feel like these are stories of holy men and women who um just, their lives are just so captivating.

Whether or not you, you know, are also Catholic, I feel like anyone can appreciate the beauty, um, of these people. So yeah, definitely check out the book and we'll link that too, right, in the show