My monthly group met last night, on the heels of All Saints' Day. Not surprisingly, the topic was saints, and what qualifies people to achieve such holy status. More surprising, is the fact that saints are regular people like us who just happened to choose to love, to forgive, and give up life as we know it for nothing other than pure love of Christ and their fellow beings.
That's a pretty tall order. And I can almost hear people reading this, saying, "That will never be me. I could never be that person!" But let's think about this for a second.
Let's go back to the 10,000 or so saints, since and before our Lord Jesus walked the earth. Yes, there have been saintly beings who have indeed given up everything for Jesus. But that does not mean that we regular sinners cannot become more saintly in our ways. Why just by our being decent human beings and doing the right thing, can qualify us as saints. Maybe not the kind that have worked miracles, or were martyred, but saintly in our ways, just the same.
It's pretty easy. Love your brother as you would love yourself. Walk in others' shoes, not just one day, but every day. Commit to prayer even if it's just once a day. Pray to God to give you the courage to be the good person you were made to be.
Last month, I touched on one of the most popular of the saints, Saint Terese of the Little Flower. Terese did not do wondrous deeds, she did not wrought miracles. She wasn't even a good writer. But since a very young child, in spite of losing her mother at the tender age of four, Terese decided to love unconditionally, in a pure Godly way, just as Jesus would have us love one another. What qualified Terese to be honored with such a saintly titled? Her love of God, her love of her fellow beings, and her faith. A perfect example of a regular person like you and me, with the exception that Terese chose to live a loving life, to love everyone she came in contact with.
As Scripture tells us over and over again, love is everything. The following verses speak of such love:
If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am nothing...
Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous....
Love never ends....
Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in her/him....
This type of love is what qualified regular folk like you and me, to become saints. Realizing this is no easy task, let us draw closer to God and let us follow the example of Jesus and the saints. We might just surprise ourselves. With God's help, we might just come as close to being a saint, as God allows.
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