Lincoln as secular saint

[LincolnToddFan]

[ I don't think anyone should be given the label of saint. Besides, anyone who truly is "saintly" would not want to be called that]

The men who wrote the Scriptures-the apostles-did not agree with you. Particularly in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the word is used quite frequently to describe members of the early Christian Church.(Acts 9:32)

The term "saint" in the Catholic sense of the word does not mean someone is considered perfect. Very far from it.. St. Augustine wrestled his demons of lust and sins of the flesh. Saints struggle mightily to imitate Christ and follow the Gospel. Some have been so transformed by their earthly struggle that they are now(according to Catholic teaching) different from other men and women and, thus, should be considered holy.

It is also true that the great saints of the world...Francis of Assisi, Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Aquinas, Padre Pio...would likely shrink at having themselves described thus, because HUMILITY is one of the main attributes of a true saint.

But the fact that they would not welcome the appellation does not make it any less true.

As for Jesus making the comment that the "dead know nothing"? I own a KJV and a Catholic Vulgate version of the Bible and I cannot locate any verse where Our Lord ever made such a comment. However, I am very familiar with the Gospel accounts of His Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor where He conversed with the long dead prophets Moses and Elijah as witnessed by Peter, James and John (Matthew 17: 1-8, Mark 9:1-8, Luke 9:28-36).

So if the dead indeed know nothing, it must have been a remarkable conversation between Moses, Elijah and Christ on that mountaintop.

The Book of Revelation adds that the "martyrs," the Christians killed for the sake of Christ, "stand before the throne of God and worship him day and night in his temple" (Rev. 7:15). "Life after death, "therefore, is life with God and with Christ: with God who "is not God of the dead but of the living, because in his sight all are alive" (Luke 20:38).

How can these martyred souls worship before the throne and yet know nothing?

I could continue, but since I am obviously no theologian and we are already way off topic I will not. But that is the basis for the Catholic belief in the Communion of Saints that I explained earlier. Since even the dead remain part of the Mystical Body of Christ we remain united with them.