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The answer depends on precisely what is meant by saint. If saint is taken to refer to simply being united to Christ (and thus a Christian), then the answer is baptism. St. Paul teaches, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13, emphasis added). The one body Paul writes of here refers to the body of Christ (v. 27). Moreover, in Romans 6:3-5, he writes: Do you not know that all of us who have been …

When I was in the seminary at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, one of my apostolates was to give English-speaking tours of St. Peter’s Basilica. In such a role, I encountered people of every sort and kind. Every week, parts of the world passed through my tour of the basilica.In my tour, since we were on “home turf,” I attempted to give a full summary of the Christian faith through the architecture, art, monuments, and history of this universally esteemed and recognized house of wor …

The 1983 Code of Canon Law (CIC) defines sacramentals as “sacred signs by which effects, especially spiritual effects, are signified in some imitation of the sacraments and are obtained through the intercession of the Church” (1166). The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), further describes sacramentals by their ability to “signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them …

The first encounter between Jesus and Peter is presented to us in two different ways. Mark, Matthew, and Luke present Peter working as a fisherman in Galilee when Jesus calls him to become one of his followers. John, on the other hand, tells us that Jesus had gone out, like many people, to see John the Baptist in Judea, and that same time a group of men from Bethsaida, among Peter and his brother Andrew, also went to see John the Baptist. In this account, the Baptist testifies that Jesus is the …

Christians claim that, starting with Abraham and culminating in Jesus, God intervened in history. What is the evidence for this claim? Consider:• The unique history of the Jewish people. This small shepherd people has survived for millennia despite constant attacks and despite constant pressure to assimilate. In the ancient world, they introduced entirely new ways of understanding the divine, and their claims about the oneness, justice, and mercy of God transformed the world. They have be …