To Be a Saint

All Saints – To Be a Saint

“Do you want to be a saint?”  A pretty straightforward question asked to a group of 2nd graders preparing for their First Reconciliation and Communion.

Almost immediately, a hand shot up into the air, confident as could be. I called on Tommy, and asked him again: “Do you want to be a saint?”  With much confidence, he looks right at me and says, “No way.”

I thought I misheard or misunderstood. “Wait, what?” (I think I actually said that aloud.) “Tommy, why don’t you want to be a saint?”

Again, with a confidence only 8-year-olds can have, he says, “I don’t want to be a saint. If I were, I’d be dead.”

Oh, Thomas: how could you be somewhat right and so very wrong all at the same time?

Today, this Solemnity of All Saints, the Church does invite us to celebrate the lives and memories of all those who have gone before us and who through grace, the Sacraments and the power of God’s purifying Love, are now united with Him for all eternity.

To be declared an official, or canonized, saint, one must have died — so Tommy was right — and then through a series of Church investigations and approved miracles via prayerful intercession, can be proven to be safely and forever in Paradise. These saints are where we long to one day be, and they intercede for us and cheer us on as we make our own journey back to the Father.

But dead they are certainly not. They are very much alive in Christ, even more so now than when they were on this earth. In Him they live and move and have their being, completely without sin and suffering. Therefore, this Solemnity reminds us that we have an army of souls now made whole in Christ who long for us to love God here with full boldness so that we’ll be open to His Love in the hereafter.

Today is about Our Lady and St. Joseph, St. Francis and Jude, and Therese and Mother Teresa…

But it’s also about your grandmother; the spouse of 50 years; the best friend who passed away from cancer ten years ago; and the children you lost in the womb — all the holy souls who will never have churches and schools named after them, but who are still very much united with Christ and strived throughout life to live in His divine will. Today is a reminder that it’s not just the heavy-hitters — the big names — who are worthy of the title. It’s who we ALL are when we return Home to God, and who we are called to be while we make our way back to the Lord. “All the way to heaven is heaven,” said Catherine of Siena, and thus the way to eternal sainthood is the way we are walking now.

At least it should be. And perhaps it is an important question to really ask ourselves this Sunday: is the way of holiness the way we are walking now? Do we want to become saints?

Remember, sainthood and holiness don’t often look like what we are told it should look like. It does not mean perfection as we define it. It does not mean that you never make a mistake or show emotions; it does not mean that you don’t sin ever.

Rather, sainthood means that you have made the journey Home via the hard way, the Way of the Cross. And this Cross has purified your love, led you to serve others, and shaped your heart to be like Christ’s in the world. This desire for genuine holiness has led you to die-to-self, sacrifice often and confess when personal sin clouds your vision and your living. Sainthood means you become fully alive as God made you to be, and then shared your gifts, talents and your offering-up of suffering for others in order to embrace and live in His Divine Will.

In the end, the saint is one who lives every day in the Will of God, and that Will makes us another Christ, even in our uniqueness and quirkiness and broken-but-redeemed loveliness. The saint is one who knows she needs God, wants to please and serve Him, and is forever willing to follow where and when and how He leads, always giving thanks — even when the storms come.

To be a saint means being willing to walk in the storms and allow them to become the very thing the Father uses to make us completely His and fully authentic. For make no mistake, holiness comes only from Calvary. Sainthood comes only when we go there and are willing to be loved and formed in the same way Christ gave all for us, His Church.

I hear quite often — and have said it myself — I’m just aiming for purgatory. And while that purgation after death is a gift for those who weren’t fully ready to live in the Light of Pure Glory, why aren’t we aiming for heaven now? Why aren’t we crying out with our hearts and encouraging ourselves, our families and our neighbors: become a saint now! Sainthood begins on the ground upon which we are standing, and the Lord has given us everything we need: His Word, His Presence in the Eucharist, His Church and His Spirit.

And should we stumble along the way, He even gives us the roadmap to follow as we climb Calvary and cry out for true and eternal holiness: His Beatitudes are the very way we learn how to become the saints we are called to be.

For when we are poor in spirit, we are willing to detach ourselves from all that keeps us selfish and instead place our hope in God alone. When we mourn, we allow our hearts to be broken open to the sufferings of others and it changes us to be Christ-like. By remaining meek, we stay strong in humility, knowing that it is in God alone where we find our true strength. When we are merciful, we are forgiving with the sacrificial lovethat comes from Christ, and when we are pure of heart, all our motives are filtered through the lens of grace, not lust. As peacemakers, we are willing to lay down our lives for Gospel Truth, and in so doing we live daily lives that hunger and thirst for true holiness, even when we are persecuted for it by family, neighbors and the world at large.

Many years ago, my third grade teacher would often leave various holy cards on our desks or hand them out as a reward for successful test grades and observable Christian service. We had so many by May that my friends and I would trade them like baseball cards: “I’ll give you a Padre Pio for a John the Baptist!”

I smile at the memory, but I won’t forget the deeper message that these cards imparted to my young heart: I wanted to be who and what I saw on those cards. I wanted to be everything those saints represented: courageous, loving, willing to help others, and become the instrument God used in His world in whatever way He knew He could use me best. I knew even then that I wanted to be with Jesus forever in heaven … fully alive in Him. (Sorry, Tommy!)

I want the same for you. For us as a parish. This call to sainthood isn’t just for a few, and it isn’t unattainable. His grace alone is enough. His Sacrifice won holiness for us.

But we have to want it, and be willing to fight for it. We have to be willing to stand and love and sacrifice and die-to-self at Calvary. Are you willing?

Thanks be to God we have a whole army praying for us. Turn to them. Ask them to intercede for you. Learn from their lives, and let their own love for Christ speak gently and powerfully into your heart.

I want to be a saint. I want this for you, too. After all, heaven just won’t be heaven if we aren’t there together.



Live the Beatitudes. Let your entire life reflect this beautiful Heart of Christ. When we do, sainthood begins right on the ground where we’re standing, and we’ll be numbered among the elect for all eternity … even if we don’t get a photo of our face on a holy card one day, suitable for trading.