Fr. James Martin on the Saints

Fr. James Martin shares the following reflection in the afterward of St. Peter's B-list: Contemporary Poems Inspired by the Saints:

The lives of saints cannot be understood unless seen as works of art, as poems. They can only be understood as songs of praise to God. 

Emily Dickinson wrote, "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry." The saints lives should make us feel the same. When you read about a saint, or if you are lucky enough to meet one or watch him or her in action, you should be disoriented. The saints' lives shock, and they should. . . .

You are called to be a saint, too. What will your poem be?