The Call to Sainthood Begins in Everyday Life

“I am sure you will agree with me that we are living in troubled times. Ever since we Americans split the atom, the whole world has been split. Disturbances not only here, but all over the world. As one of your poets has said:

‘The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.’” (W.B. Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’)

“How are we going to live in these troubled times? There is really only one answer: We have to becomes saints.” (Bl. Fulton J. Sheen)

Most likely, we have a favorite saint in our Catholic devotional backpack. Some we have grown up with and some we most recently discovered. They were not born with haloes; their love for God and others identified what made them saints. The myth of our day is that we really don’t believe that we are called to be saints as Archbishop Sheen suggests. Rather, we cast that off as meant for “special ones.” But diving deeper, we discover that the “special ones” were people like you and me who started out born in wealth or poverty, in times of war or peace, in cultures given over to sin or in homes where Christ was central. The gentle wooing of God extracted them from self-absorption and moved them toward great love.

They came from all walks of life, and what I love most about saints are their struggles. St. Francis of Assisi, if he were alive today, would probably have been under the care of a therapist when he returned from prison. He wandered around the hillside of Assisi, having shed his old identity as a “man of popularity and ribaldry” to become a lost soul given way to melancholy and depression. He broke from his melancholy when he experienced the love of Jesus after kissing a leper of whom he was terrified. From that experience, Christ came to him and bid him to follow Lady Poverty and rebuild a teetering Church. Joy and peace filled him until his death.

Or St. Ignatius of Loyola, the warrior from the Basque country in Spain, who pursued the fleshpots of his world, and who found himself wounded by a cannon ball, became trapped in the saving love of God. He was confined in a home where he read the lives of the saints while recovering. Convicted by the Holy Spirit and desiring to become a saint, St. Ignatius too, wandered around so aware of his sin that he even entertained the thought of suicide. By God’s grace, he emerged from his mystical agony and wrote the Spiritual Exercises based upon his own journey; these exercises continue to be a light on the path toward holiness for many spiritual seekers today.

I particularly love Bl. Solanus Casey, Capuchin, one of 16 children from a farm in Wisconsin. Slighted in a marriage proposal, he sought God for new direction. Drawn to priesthood, he entered St. Francis Seminary but could not master the studies and was asked to leave. On a solo retreat, he went to the Blessed Mother for insight. In chapel, he heard her say “Go to Detroit.” He knew instantly that the Capuchins had their seminary there. They accepted him and he was ordained a priest simplex. Just a quiet porter (doorkeeper) for his Capuchin community, his healing gifts drew lines of the faithful blocks long.

In our endeavors to become saints, we, too, are wooed by God to respond to his invitation to be near him. To befriend him. To love him. Our friendship with God spills out into our humble daily lives. Filled with such love for God and for others we weave into each day the Beatitudes of mercy. We mourn with others, choose peace over war, regard persecution for justice as radiant hope. The Beatitudes are not written because they are poetic and beautiful, but they are there as guideposts to sanctity. Bl. Sheen speaking to the Carmelites on the memorial of the Little Flower, emphasized that the path to holiness for all of us is to integrate what we are doing each day with our love for the Lord: weeping with the broken, eating with the poor, standing in prayer between heaven and earth. As Pope Francis would say, do not be afraid to smell like the sheep!

And what do saints look like today?

I know a woman who after losing her son to a tragic car accident, rose up to begin a grief support group in order to allow the bereaved a safe place to be sad. I know a young mother whose daughter, diagnosed with cerebral palsy, was nonverbal, g-tube fed, never spoke a word, and was completely dependent upon her mom and dad for all her daily care. The child, who died at age 8, had a profound impact on those who had the opportunity to know her. Her mother, feeling deeply for children who could not play on playgrounds due to their disabilities, worked with her community to build a playground for ALL ages and ALL abilities. The playground has become a model for other communities to offer accessibility and inclusion to places of play.

I know people who choose to quiet what is hostile within themselves in order to find ways of peace. No gossip. No put-downs. No competing arguments. No ego. But strong in the conviction that evil will not have the last word. Bl. Sheen ended his talk to the Carmelites with these words: “It does not require much time to make a saint; it only requires great love.” He might also add that our endeavors toward sanctity remind us of the message of his famous television program, “Life Is Worth Living.”