The Science of the Saints: Dr Scott Hahn’s treatise again

 Dr Scott Hahn, evangelical Protestant who converted to the Catholic Church and chronicled his journey to Catholicism in the famous book ‘Rome Sweet Home’, is undoubtedly an inspiring writer and speaker.

 His sincerity, integrity and profound human interest has attracted lakhs of people. His books and speeches exude his love for Jesus and the scripture. Dr Scott, who holds the Fr. Michael Scanlan Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization at Franciscan University of Steubenville, has come out with his latest book “Angels and Saints: A Biblical Guide to Friendship with God’s Holy Ones’.

 A particular incident during his pilgrimage to Assisi -- the town of St Francis and St Clare -- in the book caught my attention. He saw saints in a hospital room in Assisi. His son Joe fell ill and was hospitalized for urgent medical care. He was in trauma and writhing in agony. Anything could have happened at that time and his life was in danger.

 Dr Scott says in the book, "I turned off the lights in the room and did the only thing left for me to do.”

 “I dropped to my knees in the most desperate prayer, imploring God's help in the most general and inarticulate way. And I was startled by a sudden sense of presence--a vivid sense.”

 “God was with me in that room. If you had turned on the lights and I had seen him, I wouldn't have been surprised. God was close to me in my helplessness. I had the clear sense that he was asking me: What are you afraid of?” he says.

  “I was taken aback, and I responded frankly, though interiorly: Why would you even ask that? You know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of losing my son in surgery in a place that's not prepared to deal with this sort of problem. I love him, and I don't want him to die. And just as clearly I sensed God's reply: Is that all?” he writes.

  “Into my mind came the first papal words of the man who was then the pope, Blessed John Paul II. He said to the world: "Be not afraid." He was echoing Jesus (Matthew 28:10) and so many angels (Luke 1:13, 2:10). And no one--not Jesus nor the angels nor Pope John Paul--ever said there was no reason to be afraid. They just told us to get over it, to get past the fear, and to accept the grace that God was extending to us through our trials,” he writes.

 “It was then that Assisi lived up to its reputation for me. In an instant I realized that Joe and I were far from alone in the room. God was with me; but there with God were so many others. I knew the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our guardian angels, and the saints whose footsteps I'd been following, Francis and Clare. There was Padre Pio, and St. Therese of the Child Jesus, and St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Josemaria Escriva--all saints who had significantly influenced my spiritual and intellectual life. They were really there, in the presence of God. They were there because they truly cared about Joe and me, and Kimberly and the pilgrims, and they were interceding for all of us,” Dr Scott says in the book.

  “Please don't get me wrong. I'm not a man given to mystical flights, or visions, or locutions. My family and closest friends will testify that I'm not prone to euphoria. Nor do I think my experience was anything extraordinary. I believe I experienced, for a moment, a heightened sense of what is truly ordinary. This is the backdrop of our everyday life: The angels and saints are with us as witnesses, as friends, as family. We are never alone. We need never be afraid. This is a simple corollary of our salvation. It's a fact too easily forgotten,” he writes.

 “As I let my fears be known, I grew more aware of the saints' presence. They were, in a sense, more present than I was--more awake, more alert, more alive in God. They were like older siblings who had come to the aid of a younger one who's injured. My prayer became a conversation that included all of them. And, again, if you had flipped on the light and I had seen their faces, I wouldn't have been surprised,” Dr Scott writes.

  “There came a moment when I thought I could pray like this all night--but I realized that that would be selfish, and it would leave me useless to everyone at the time of Joe's surgery. I knew I should get up off the floor and get some sleep. That was when it occurred to me: for the last two hours and forty-five minutes Joe hadn't uttered a peep--no crying, no moaning, no writhing. He'd been sleeping peacefully the whole time.”

  “I didn't sense that a miracle had happened. I just felt a certain peace, and I went to Our Lady, who had been there from the beginning, and I prayed a Rosary to close the night,” Dr Scott writes.

 Catholics tend to think of angels and saints as different from the rest of us. They’re cast in plaster or simpering on a holy card, performing miracles with superhero strength, or playing a harp in highest heaven, the publisher of the book says.
 Yet they are very near to us in every way. In this lively book, Scott Hahn dispels the false notions and urban legends people use to keep the saints at a safe distance. The truth is that Jesus Christ has united heaven and earth in a close communion. Drawing deeply from Scripture, Dr Scott shows that the hosts of heaven surround the earthly Church as a "great cloud of witnesses."  Dr Scott tells the stories of several saints (and several angels too) in a way that’s fresh and new.

  As the publisher says, the martyrs cry out from heaven’s altar begging for justice on the earth. The prayers of the saints and angels rise to God, in the Book of Revelation, like the sweet aroma of incense.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Book: Angels and Saints. A Biblical Guide to Friendship with God's Holy Ones
Written by: Scott Hahn
ISBN: 9780307590794
Format: Hardcover
Price: $23.00 

Publisher: Image, a division of Random House LLC
Published: May 27, 2014