This week, we are exploring how and why the Church recognizes men and women as Saints. We have spent quite a bit of time this year talking about various Saints and the lives of holiness that they led. The Church does not "make" Saints. Saints are those who are face-to-face with God in heaven. Naming Saints does not glorify the Saint- they are in heaven, and it doesn't get any better than that. Naming Saints does not glorify God- He is God, and nothing we do can add to Who He is. Naming Saints helps us here in the Church Militant to strive for holiness by looking to their example and asking for their intercession. The steps that lead to the Church recognizing someone as a Saint was outlined most recently by Blessed John Paul II, and is very specific, interesting, and... a little complicated in the eyes of a ten year old. I love post-it notes, and I love teaching with post-it notes, and in general, kids also love post-it notes. Mix that in with shaped post-it notes...and you have a cool graphic organizer. I got these post-it notes in the dollar bins at Target. We wrote the three initial steps in the canonization process on the arrows, and then added Saint on a heart. A quick, effective, and memorable intro to canonization! Update: No post its? Use this printable to create the same graphic organizer:
