Let God Make You a Saint

Let God Make You a Saint

St Anthony of Padua

An elderly woman had a great devotion to St. Anthony, whom many people turn to for assistance in finding lost items.ย  Whenever the woman lost something, sheโ€™d say a prayer to him and promise to put a donation in the church poor box, and this system never failed her; the missing item always turned up immediately afterwards.ย  However, as she became older and more forgetful, the woman misplaced her glasses, her rosary, her cell phone, and other various other things more and more frequently.ย  Finally she said, โ€œIโ€™m not going to promise St. Anthony any more moneyโ€”I think heโ€™s started hiding my things on purposeโ€ (Msgr. Arthur Tonne, Jokes Priests Can Tell, Vol. 4, #421).

We know, of course, that neither St. Anthony nor any other saint would do something like that, but this story is interesting and attractive because it shows that the saints can be understood in a friendly, down-to-earth way.ย  Too often we think of them only as being โ€œup thereโ€โ€”but theyโ€™re also supposed to be โ€œdown here,โ€ serving as models, guides, and sources of inspiration and encouragement for all of us in our daily lives.ย  Sainthood should also be a reality here and now in another sense:ย  we are called to holiness, and to be living signs of faith and of Divine Love and Mercy.ย  Itโ€™s very easy to assume this is beyond our ability, or something to which only exceptionally holy people are calledโ€”but thatโ€™s not the case.ย  Anyone can be a saintโ€”not by doing great religious deeds, but simply by surrendering completely to Godโ€™s love.ย  We canโ€™t โ€œearnโ€ sainthood, but we can allow and accept itโ€”and this process is supposed to begin here and now.

God wishes everyone to be saved, and He gives His people the grace necessary for this to happen, as our readings show.ย  The Book of Revelation (7:2-4, 9-14) describes โ€œa huge crowd which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.โ€ย  These citizens of heaven were purified by washing their robes in the blood of the Lambโ€”in other words, through the grace of Jesus, they were able to serve God by living a holy life on earth, in spite of difficulties and persecution.ย  The multitude of persons around Godโ€™s throne cried out, โ€œSalvation is from our God!โ€โ€”that is, they didnโ€™t earn the right to dwell in heaven, but humbly accepted this glorious destiny as Godโ€™s generous gift.ย  The Lordโ€™s amazing generosity is further described in the First Letter of St. John (3:1-3), in which St. John states that we are already Godโ€™s sons and daughtersโ€”not only in the heavenly life to come, but here and now in our earthly lives.ย  Children, of course, imitate their parents, and we must try to imitate God our Father in His love and mercy.ย  Parents help their children, so we know that God will help us to be like Him.ย  This is the sort of single-heartedness Jesus speaks of in the Gospel of Matthew (5:1-12):ย  a desire to be holy like God, and to see His will done in all things.ย  Jesus promises us that, if we are poor in spirit in this senseโ€”placing Godโ€™s will ahead of our ownโ€”the reign of God will be given to us; our heavenly Father will satisfy our hunger and thirst for holiness.

Most Christians, I suspect, are content just to get by in a spiritual sense, to be decent people with an eventual goal of reaching heavenโ€”and if they think of sainthood, they imagine it happening to someone else, not themselves. ย The truth, however, is that we are all called to be saintsโ€”probably not by becoming famous and doing great things like Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul II, but simply by loving the Lord with all our hearts and giving His grace free rein to work within us.ย  Of course, we can raise all sorts of objections or think of practical difficultiesโ€”but upon examination, they come to nothing.

For instance, do we think, โ€œIโ€™ll never be a saintโ€”my temper is too strongโ€?ย  St. Jerome was troubled by a fierce temper, and it was a lifelong struggle to control itโ€”but in the end it didnโ€™t keep him from becoming holy.ย  Do we tell ourselves, โ€œI canโ€™t be a saint because of my ongoing temptations against sexual purityโ€?ย  Remember, Mary Magdalene was a sinful woman in this regard, but she responded to Jesusโ€™ love, and became a great saint; the same thing was true of numerous other persons in the Churchโ€™s history.ย  Do we find ourselves attracted to a worldly lifestyle?ย  So did many future saints, such as Ignatius of Loyola; after his conversion, however, his life took a radically different direction.ย  Do the negative opinions other people have of us convince us we could never be good enough or smart enough to be holy?ย  St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the holiest and greatest scholars and thinkers in historyโ€”but when he was going to school, his classmates thought so little of him they nicknamed him the โ€œDumb Ox.โ€

Do we fear the difficulty we have in obeying Godโ€™s will may keep us from becoming holy?ย  St. Joan of Arc was imprisoned by her enemies; she disobeyed God by trying to escape and almost killed herself in the process, but she repented, and was forgiven.ย  Do we worry that striving for holiness will inevitably interfere with our enjoyment of life?ย  St. Alphonsus Liguori knew better.ย  He loved theater musicโ€”but the only place it was played was at strip-tease shows.ย  He attended theseโ€”but being extremely near-sighted, he simply removed his glasses, so that he heard and enjoyed the music without seeing the immoral dancing that accompanied it.ย  Do we believe weโ€™re incapable of doing great things the way the saints did?ย  St. Therese of Lisieuxโ€”the Little Flowerโ€”discovered what she called her โ€œlittle way of the Crossโ€:ย  doing everything, no matter how simple or routine, with great love.ย  Thatโ€™s an example we can all imitate.

Every possible objection we can raise to the idea of our personal quest for holiness can be answered with an example from the lives of one of the saints.ย  Iโ€™m called to holinessโ€”and so are you.ย  I try to respond, but quite often fall short.ย  Nonetheless, I donโ€™t grow discouraged, because I realize itโ€™s a lifelong process, and that God is in charge, not me.ย  You have the right to challenge me to be holyโ€”and I have the right and duty to challenge you to grow in the same way.ย  I do hereby challenge you:ย  let God take control of your life, let His grace be active within you, and let Him make you a saint.ย  The French author Leon Bloy once wrote, โ€œIn the end, there will be only one tragedy:ย  not to have been a saint.โ€ย  This is true, for only those who strive for holinessโ€”even if just in simple, everyday waysโ€”can reasonably hope for eternal life in heaven.ย  We canโ€™t earn our sainthood, but we can allow it and accept itโ€”and right now is the time to begin.

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Written by
Fr Joseph Esper