Saint Stalking | Beautiful Depths

OUR HEAVENLY FRIENDS GUIDING US

When I was in college, I asked a friend how I could grow in my prayer life. She replied,

“Ask the saints to help you. When I was growing in my prayer life, St. Therese started stalking me. She just kept appearing everywhere. So I finally picked up one of her books and was drawn into intimacy with Jesus and my prayer life flourished!”

“Excuse me, what?!” I replied in confusion. “You just said St. Therese was stalking you! Are you crazy?!”

She didn’t mean St. Therese physically stalked her—although that would be incredible or creepy, depending on how you look at it. Rather, St. Therese just kept coming up in conversation and appearing in the most random places through quotes or images. And there was a reason for this—St. Therese was helping her to grow in intimacy with Jesus. How cool?!

WHAT IS A SAINT?

The word saint means ‘holy one’ and in the Catholic Church, we have two types of saints: lower-case “s” saints and capital “S” Saints. A lower-case “s’” saint is someone we know or hope is in Heaven. A capital “S” Saint is someone who lived a devout life here on earth and who has been proven to intercede for miracles to occur here on earth after their death. The miracles attributed to their intercession have been thoroughly investigated by the Church and proven to be true. Once the investigation process is over, the person can become a canonized Saint in the Church.

Both the lower-case saints and upper-case Saints, along with the souls in purgatory, and us here on earth form the Communion of Saints—a spiritual solidarity that connects all of us as the Body of Christ!

If you’re confused what this means practically, let me break it down.

Have you ever asked a friend to pray for you when you’re going through a tough time? Why do you ask people to pray for you? As believers, we know the power of prayer and the power of petition. The more people we ask to pray for us, the more we allow them to enter into our suffering with us and lift our needs up to Heaven.

So why not ask a friend who we already know is in Heaven to pray for us?! That’s exactly what we do with the Saints! Ask them to intercede—to pray—for us since they are already in Heaven!

WHAT IS SAINT STALKING?

The idea of saint stalking is simple: a particular Saint continually appears in your life over a period of time—this can be multiple weeks, months, or years that this Saint keeps appearing. This isn’t just a coincidence! The Saints are sent by God to draw us closer to Him; so when a Saint is pursuing us, it is because they want us to learn something about God through their lives and intercession.

I remember the first time I was “saint stalked.” It began when I was visiting my friend in Minnesota, and we went to pray at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. While praying on the beautiful grounds, this statue of St. Joseph working on carpentry work with young Jesus just caught my eye. It was a beautiful image!

A few weeks later, I was at a Cathedral and I turned the corner and BAM! St. Joseph was there again. Later on, I was walking down a street and remember the most beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe being in an obscure place. Over a period of several weeks, I started to recognize both St. Joseph and Our Lady of Guadalupe popping into my life in the most random of ways—images, quotes, and various conversations.

OUR FRIENDS IN HEAVEN

At the time, I had no clue why they were stalking me. So I started to pray about it. I asked God to reveal to me why they were coming into my life so frequently. I wish I could say I instantly had an answer, but I didn’t. I just peacefully let the Lord reveal their desire to be in my life in His time.

I also decided to get to know them a little better—I looked into their stories, prayed for their intercession intentionally, and just kept watching to see where they would reappear. It was always a delightful surprise when I would see either of them again. I felt like I truly had great friends in Heaven, and it became comforting to know they were praying for me.

A few months later, I met my husband, Matthew. When I was in the adoration chapel one day, I read previous journal entries and remembered being stalked by St. Joseph and Our Lady of Guadalupe. It hit me like a brick wall. Matthew has a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe (he even wears socks with her image on them all the time) and his patron saint is St. Joseph! Suddenly, I realized they were preparing my heart and leading me right to my husband!

Here’s the deal: I’m not saying every time a Saint stalks you, they are trying to point you to your future spouse. God speaks to each of us in different ways and for me, this just happened to be the case with these two amazing Saints. However, I do believe Our Heavenly Father gave us the gift of the Saints in Heaven to pray for us and guide us here on earth.

WHAT TO DO IF A SAINT IS STALKING YOU

So if you notice a Saint appearing in your life frequently, don’t be scared. Befriend them. Learn about their lives. Ask the Lord what He is trying to show you through their example. But don’t obsess over it and become paranoid they are trying to give you some mysterious sign for your life’s problems. Acknowledge them, ask for their prayers, and entrust the stalking to Our Heavenly Father who already knows your needs.

So… Has anyone been Saint Stalking you lately?

All my love,

Kaylee