calendars and saints

When I was a child no one bought calendars they were free from merchants and the local parish. The whole industry of beautiful calendars with themes is growing and wasteful use of paper.

My family had one calendar in the kitchen near the phone and it was the Catholic parish calendar while I was growing up. It did include the phases of the moon, maybe even the sunrise and sunset times for the farmers in the community but mainly it was for all of to be reminded of the religious year. It marked the holy days, the moving feast days and fasting days of the church. By far, the most interesting part of the calendar for me was the names of the daily saints. The majority of them were of Medieval times and were Italian or at less it looked like Italian names to me. Images of people in long robes with veils or long beards enter my mind as I recall the nuns tells us of these saints.

I would like to modernize this practice and offer a calendar of real saints that live today, that walk among us and live with joy making the hard decisions to do the right things. They don't abandon the people that are difficult in their lives, they don't short change needs of children or old people. They take a deep breathe and get up and do the calming thing because of their core being. These people some times smoke, sometimes they booze too much and sometimes they make big mistakes in their lives. These saints in my calendar have lived life long enough to experiences some of the exceptions to the rules and have forgiven others and themselves.

It is only the young that know all the rules, the old know all the exceptions to the rules.

I would have special months for different categorizes of saints. I would take nominations each year and they would have to be the living. Dead people have it easy, they may whisper in our ear but they are not facing the choices anymore.
No one in the business of sainthood, mainly, religious organizations could put forward names for my calendar. That would feel like too much of the inside job for me. I want big famous names that put themselves on the line for the less among us and the unfamiliar names that act heroic while no one is observing them.

We all know the saints in our lives and we can all make up our calendar.