saints and martyrs

As we have a martyr in Heather Heyer, we appear to have a saint in Samantha Francine. At a Black Lives Matter demonstration, she stared down a man, much larger than she, who showed up to rage and to foment disorder.

I'm sure that a check into the backgrounds of either of the women I named will find human and fallible times. The Catholic Church demands that its saints be paragons of virtue throughout their lives (or at least after their conversions). But this is stupid. It belies the humanity and forgiveness that the Church says that it teaches, and it treats its members as if they are children.

In our age, I demand a new definition of saint: one who displays saintly behavior in the critical moment. We don't need impossible standards. We don't need heroes. We need real people doing the right thing at the necessary time.

After that, we can all go back to our real lives.