Sitting on the Saints

I am at the annual Reaffirmation of Ordination Vows a few days before Holy Week, sitting on the saints. That’s because the columbarium is in the floor of the Bofinger Chapel at Christ Church Cathedral where the Reaffirmation service is led by our bishop.

The chapel seats just fifty, but five hundred and sixty marble tiles cover floor—niches holding the cremains of, so far, about four hundred cathedral members and others. Notables and not-so-notable saints from the diocese, the city and beyond rest in peace here.

When you sit in the chapel to pray, you cannot not sit on the saints.

I know the stories of some of these saints. One was a mentor in my early professional development, albeit a mentor who went awry. Another, a dean of the cathedral here in the ‘70s, supported my early explorations of ordination as a priest. An influential banker and distinguished layman in this diocese who served on the Board

of Directors of one of my earliest ministries is inured here. Just a few niches over a local parish priest who spiritually guided me in my first ministry, a friend’s wife, and at least several others of passing familiarity are inured. I understand even some street people who made the cathedral steps their home and had no other family or place of burial are at rest here.

But mostly I sit on saints I never met. While their stories are unknown to me, they are held in the memories of their loved ones and friends.

Most importantly, their stories are held in the heart of God.

These saints and so many more make up the fabric of our diocese. Their entwined stories give our diocese its character and strength. They offered the faithfulness of earlier decades that enables us to find and follow Christ in our day.

We are deep in the process to elect a new Bishop. Prayerful gratitude for how we all sit on the saints of days past is crucial.

Following their consecration, our new bishop will be seated on the cathedra in the cathedral. She or he will be the Eleventh Bishop of Missouri in succession, to sit on the saints of this diocese.

Bishop, priest, deacon, lay member—whatever your role is—you cannot not sit on the saints, living and past, who have shaped this diocese since our founding 1841. Let us be grateful and mindful of them as we follow in their train to remember the future calling our diocese.

The Rev. Paul A. Metzler, D.Min, is a member of the Board of Directors of Confluence: A Roofless Spirituality Center founded in the Diocese of Missouri in 2010. The image used is "The Communion of Saints" from Maltese artist Ira Thomas. She offers her work to the world on the website www.catholicworldart.com.

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