One example of a saint--those so marked as Christ’s own for ever--is the English composer Herbert Howells, who died in 1983. In 1935, when Howells’s son, Michael, contracted polio, Howells kept a diary, and I’d like to share with you a few entries concerning Michael’s illness:
- Wednesday: Mick’s coming into our room in early morning. Temperature. Bad back. Doctor … sent for.
- Thursday: Mick worse. Orders for London. Ambulance… Nursing Home… Fearful anxiety.
- Friday: With Michael most of the morning. Grave change. Mick worse always. Hope, then despair. Mick died at 10:10 p.m. 

On Tuesday, September 3, 1935, nine-year-old Michael had been busy mowing lawns. And by Friday, September 6 (just three days later), Michael was dead. Herbert Howells was inconsolable, described as “ever grieving.” And it his daughter, Ursula, then 12, who suggested that he should write about Michael in his music. 
Coincidentally, someone wrote Howells and requested that he set a text of the poet Robert Bridges to music as a hymn. Dr. Howells recalls that “on receiving the request, he wrote the entire tune while still at the breakfast table where he had been opening the mail.”
The tune you may recognize. It’s called Michael, and the text begins "All my hope on God is founded." We sang it today as the Hymn of the Day.
In the midst of terrible grief and agony, Herbert Howells found a creative expression for his pain. Instead of demanding why Michael had to die, he set his efforts on praising the Triune God with his music. And instead of wasting time figuring out why he was being punished, he created works of beauty for all the world to enjoy.
Here is a model of a faithful sacramental Christian. Not always knowing the answers, but always determined to praise God. Not worried about earning salvation, but thankful for gifts of grace already received. Not willing to dwell in life’s pain, but striving mightily to show forth its splendor. And not able to forget our many afflictions, but seeking to transform them for the greater good.
Trusting that God will guide us through change and chance. Knowing that mortal pride and earthly glory—and all we know in this material life—will fall to dust. But that God nonetheless bestows bounteous gifts on us—and daily.
So let us not fear the suffering, but rejoice in the healing. Let us not fret about anguish, but prepare for the feasting. Let us not worry about whether we are among the elect, but let us act as if we know how wonderful that would be. Let us find inspiration in the heroic story of Herbert Howells—and thousands more like him: ordinary folk who lived through trials and difficulties with the strength that only faith in Jesus can provide.