Do you believe it? You are a saint in the making.
We are all called to be saints. Let that sink in,
we are all called to be saints.
We often wonder what our calling in life is and overlook the simple truth that God calls us to be holy, he calls us to be disciples, to make disciples, to be saints, to love God, and to love our neighbor.
What is a saint?
I used to think that I needed to do great things if I wanted to become a saint. This textbook definition of a saint is pretty intimidating, not gonna lie, but I'm writing this to make the whole idea of "sainthood" less intimidating for you and me.
In today’s homily by Dcn. Darrio he said something that really stuck out to me,
“To be a saint… Does it necessarily mean we need to do exactly what the saints do?… If we do what Jesus asks of us and follow His will, we become saints simply by doing good, by being good Christians.”
It definitely is easier said than done but I think that we all become more intentional in how we live our lives and go about our days, choosing to do good, and being obedient to Christ, we become closer to the person that God is calling us to be, which is (spoiler alert) a saint. It's as simple as just loving God and loving our neighbor when it's hardest to love them.
In a letter from Saint Paul to the Ephesians, he writes:
“[God] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” — Ephesians 4:11-14 (ESV)
As I’ve always heard before from my spiritual leaders, and I say to you now, God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called. God doesn’t equip us with concrete building tools to build His kingdom, he equips us with His word and His people. We learn from the apostles and evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, that we all have different journeys but it all comes down to bringing God glory. Each and every one of us will have a battle we need to face that will end up becoming a testament of God’s faithfulness and love.
To be saint you have to be holy in virtue. You may feel inadequate, unworthy, and incapable of answering God’s call to sainthood and that’s totally understandable. I feel that way too, everyday. But sometimes I think about the saints that came before us, yeano, St. Damien, St. Marianne, St. Theresa, St. Genevieve, St. Jude, etc. I wonder how many times those thoughts and feelings of inadequacy crossed their minds because they were just as human as we are. They weren’t half human, half divine like Jesus; they were just like us; human. But what was it that kept them going?
I think they knew they were made for heaven. Eternity was in their hearts. End game was heaven. Even if they felt absolutely unworthy, they chose faith over fear. Even if they didn't have much, they trusted that God will be their portion where there isn’t enough. They were satisfied with being God’s vessel. Ultimately, they knew that great love is all it took -- love for the Father, love for others, and love for themselves -- to answer the call because there's no fear in love.
We are called to be saints. There’s this famous quote that says, “every saint has a past, every sinner has a future”. I hope you remember that you’re a saint in the making find power in the truth that the Holy Spirit is in you. Sainthood isn’t as far away as you think. I'll leave you with this quote from one of my favorite saints I've come to know, Mother Theresa:
