You are called to be a saint.
You are called for holiness.
It’s true! That is God’s will for you, to get to Heaven and to therefore become a saint.
You are also called to a relationship with God out of love.
You are happiest when you are doing the things that help you grow in holiness. That is something a lot of people are missing in their pursuit of happiness.
We are so blessed to have over 10,000 canonized saints to look up to. That’s a lot of pressure though! When you think of saints, you most likely think of the big ones- St. Mother Teresa, St. Francis, Pope St. John Paul II, St. Peter, St. John, St. Therese of Lisieux etc. etc.
Those are some big role models and often times we leave sanctity to them- “I could never do the stuff that they did.”.
We must embrace our littleness, understand what holiness is and grow in a loving relationship with our Lord, our Father. I’ll leave it to the experts to explain…
“Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God.”
-St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“I want you to have a new concept of holiness. You’ve got to be holy where you are: washing dishes, at the office, at school. Wherever you are, you can be holy there.”
-Mother Angelica
“Holiness does not consist in one exercise or another, but is a disposition of the heart, which renders us humble and little in the hands of God, conscious of our weakness, and confident, even daringly confident, in His fatherly goodness.”
-St. Therese of Lisieux
“Do not be afraid to aim for holiness and turn yourselves over to the love of God. Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things but carrying out daily things in an extraordinary way- that is, with love, joy and faith.”
-Pope Francis
I’ve heard it put that holiness is union with God’s will.
It’s pretty simple. Holiness is obedience and doing the will of God, in all circumstances, with love, joy and faith. It’s simple. But it’s not easy. As St. Josemaria Escriva said, “The struggle is the sign for holiness, a saint is a sinner that keeps trying.” It’s hard. It means carrying your cross… to the end. It means that we must die so that our new self can be raised.
“To reform. Every day a little. This has to be your constant task if you really want to be a saint.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva
There will be ups, there will be downs. At times you will be on fire for the Lord and at other times you won’t be, and in fact maybe the opposite of that.
But the truth is, holiness is attractive.
It always has been.
The truth is, you will not find fulfillment without Jesus.
So we must cast ourselves in the arms of God and persevere in love.
Sanctity is worth it.
As Pope St. John Paul said…
“Do not be afraid to be saints.”
These hats are meant to help inspire you along the race and connect you with some of the great, holy saints that have come before us. Hopefully they’ll remind you of your goal to be a saint and help inspire you in it!