Heroes
A hero is someone we can look up to because they have done something really good. We admire our heroes because we would like to be like them in some way.
Who are the people you look up to? Perhaps a sports champion, a rock star or a movie star? Maybe someone who has done something special for you: like a lifesaver who rescued someone you know from the surf or the fire fighters who saved your house from a bushfire? Perhaps someone you know personally is a hero to you: your Mum or Dad, your grandmother, your parish priest, a teacher?
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 Our Catholic faith has lots of heroes who we can admire and try to be like. We call them 'saints'. These are people who love God deeply and follow Jesus closely. Some of these may be people in our own family who have died and gone to heaven. Others have been picked out officially by the Church ... we call this 'canonisation'. Many saints did amazing things during their life. All of them are known for how much they loved God. Some of them even died rather than say they didn't love God!
A long time a go in Rome, Christians had to live in secret out of fear of being killed. They couldn’t go to church like we can today. A young Roman called Tarsicius was secretly carrying Holy Communion to some Christians when he was stopped by soldiers. They demanded he hand over what was hidden in his clothes. He refused and was beaten to death. He loved Jesus so much that he chose to die rather than betray him. Wow! Would you be so brave?
There are special saints to whom we can turn when we need help. Called 'patron saints', we can pray to them and ask them to talk to God for us. We can take our needs to them and know they will listen to us and pray to God with us. There are patron saints for every kind of work or situation like teachers, carpenters, countries, lawyers, being sick or orphaned. Even beekeepers have a patron saint! All the saints together make up 'the Communion of Saints' and there are thousands of them!
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 Mary – Queen of Heaven
Mary is the first among the saints. It was through Mary's openness to the Holy Spirit that the gift of Jesus Christ came into the world. She has many important names like 'Mother of God', 'Queen of Heaven', and 'Our Lady of the Sacred Heart'. 'Our Lady Help of Christians' is the patroness of Australia. Mary was chosen for this role because she is always ready to help her children when they call on her. |
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