Take for example St. Peter. The feisty, uncontrollable, violent, misunderstanding Peter became the clear-spoken preacher of Pentecost, the level-headed leader of the Council of Jerusalem, and the rock upon which Christ built his Church. Meeting, following, and even identifying Jesus as Christ did not immediately transform him, however. The slow journey from humble fisherman with a fiery temper to martyr and head of Christ's church included many missteps on his part and much learning from Christ. Was it not Peter who cut off the servants ear in Gethsemane and tried to take the kingdom of God by the sword? Every rooster's call reminds the Christian of his great betrayal. And yet, Christ leads him to spiritual maturity and sainthood. "Do you love me?" he asks Peter three times, one for each denial. "Then feed my sheep." Like a confessor, Christ rebukes Peter, draws out his contrition and love of God, and assigns his penance. Like us, Peter was a sinner, but he desired and strove to sin no more. He accepted his responsibilities in Christ's church, as well as the purifying fire of sacrifice and suffering. While he first recognized Jesus as the Christ, he secondly learned to follow Christ's lead, to tread the narrow road of mortification and service.
Just as Christ took the rough material of Peter and fashioned from him one of the Church's foremost saints, he wishes to transform us into saints: souls who will glorify Him and participate in eternal communion in heaven. We need not be discouraged by our rocky beginnings. As a priest reminded my parish yesterday for All Saints' Day, we are all called to holiness, that is, called to become saints. Becoming a saint is a long process, often extending even into the next life. We are called to seek after purity and righteousness, to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses of suffering, and to tread the way to Calvary- no easy task. As my priest said in his homily, we, as a consumerist society, are unwilling to patiently work on anything, yet alone "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." We want to buy salvation, to take up something ready-made, but that is not what the call to holiness means. Holiness is not for sale, and perfection is not a one-step process.
This belief, that the difficult road to sainthood is the calling of our lives, informs the Catholic practice of confession. If we truly seek to become more like Christ and less like the devil, to root out sin and foster holiness, then we must examine ourselves often. We are fallible humans, so we must continually check our progress. We must go to Christ in His Church and admit our failures, repair our relationship with Him, and start again on that road. To draw closer to Christ, we must distance ourselves from sin, which has no part in His perfection. Confession is the sacramental tool given to us to call forth our sins, lay them at the foot of the cross, and send us out to sin no more. Even saints who never committed a mortal sin, like Sts. Dominic and Therese of Liseux, sought confession often and received their penance with joy. They longed to make reparation for the slightest hurt to Christ, because they loved him so severely. So does our hatred of sin and love of Christ draw us to the confessional and onward in our journey toward sainthood.
I do not mean to say, as many misunderstand the Catholic teaching, that we make ourselves into saints. Christ makes saints. He draws them forth, leads them on, and perfects them. Our role in becoming saints is in the acquiescing to Christ's requests of us. Like the Blessed Mother, we must assent to even the most radical of God's propositions. Her blessedness is that she said "yes" to God and opened herself up to the defining miracle of human existence: the Incarnation. She participated with Christ in His suffering. We are to imitate her submission, her humility, and her willingness to work with Christ. In everything, Mary glorifies Christ. So we should seek to allow our lives to glorify Christ. That is why we are given the gift of life, that here and after we may, drawing others with us, be made ready for the kingdom of God where His Saints are His glory.
As I said, the road to holiness is no easy path and the task of participating with God in our salvation is a daunting one. Yet, Christ gives each of us, in addition to the fundamental sacramental graces of the Church, tools, people, and means particular to ourselves that help us work with Him. Each of us has a different vocation, wherein we can best (though not only) reach heaven. Each of us has helpmates, family, friends, and fellow members of Christ's Body. We have only to look at the saints to realize that the road to sainthood looks drastically different for everyone. Saint Maximilian Kolbe died in a concentration camp, Saint Felicity in the Colosseum, and Saint John the Evangelist peacefully in his sleep surrounded by disciples, but they all died in Christ. Saint Frances roamed the Italian countryside preaching the Gospel, Saint Francis Xavier travelled the world, and Saint Therese of Liseux never left a small area of France, but they all shared the love of Christ with millions. The heroes of the Faith have come from all nationalities, ages, levels of society, and personality types. They all found themselves called to live out God's will in different ways among different people, but they all chose to submit to that will, personally and daily, despite any suffering they might endure.
In our own call to holiness God has given us the divine gift of participating in our salvation--working with Him toward a more perfect imitation of and union with Christ. He was provided us with the call, the means, and the impetus to become His saints. (Most importantly, we have constant access to His grace in the sacraments.) It should be our greatest desire to follow that call to holiness. If the end of man is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" as saints in Heaven, then our everyday lives should be aimed in every way at becoming saints. In my own life, I now face the responsibility of helping my husband and son become saints as well. I know that my way to heaven lies with these tasks. I pray for the desire and zeal to carry out this responsibility, as well as the ability to place myself and my family daily under Christ's guidance on the road to Heaven. For this, I ask the prayers of the saints who have gone before me to glory, who have given their examples of how we might become true followers of Christ.
On All Souls Day, I would also like to remember the great mercy of God who allows our journey of purification to continue after this life in the cleansing fires of Purgatory. In John Henry, Cardinal Newman's Dream of Gerontius he tells the story of a soul who approaches heaven not yet perfect, who asks to be sent to Purgatory that he be made ready for the presence of Christ. In Purgatory, his great joy, as well as his great purifying sorrow at not yet being ready, is that he is on his way to his Lord. Like the Church Militant, the Church Suffering is also on its way to becoming saints. Finally, our becoming will cease, and we will bask in God, who is Himself pure Being, He who IS. Let us pray that we may all join the Church Triumphant in Heaven, in that perpetual adoration before Christ our Lord.
N.B: I am not trying to speak authoritatively on Catholic doctrine and I am most certainly not trying to start a theological argument, but rather giving a personal meditation.
Thanks for listening! Here are some baby pictures!
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| Finn was a pony for Halloween! |
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| So, of course, I had to be his cowgirl. |
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| Eating his cold little pony fingers. |
Eternal rest grant unto them, Oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them.
Finn is: Almost 16 weeks old
Mama is reading: How the Reformation Happened by Hillaire Belloc
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