Recently, I attended a First Saturday Mass at my local church. The sanctuary was adorned with statues of several revered saints, including one that resembled Mother Teresa and another of Saint Carlo Acutis. Before the service began, I went to confession, seeking a fresh start to the day.
During the Mass, something the priest said caught me completely off guard: “We are all saints after going to confession.” That simple statement sparked a deep reflection. What truly makes a saint? Is it the extraordinary acts we read about, or something more ordinary, accessible to all of us in our everyday lives?
I believe that before we can address these questions, it’s essential to engage in deep reflection, as being a saint isn’t something one achieves effortlessly or spontaneously. I don’t refer to a saint as defined by society or the church. It’s likely that figures like Mother Teresa and John Paul II weren’t waking up each day, aiming to be saints. So, what truly defines a saint? How can we recognize if we embody that spirit? Is it even possible to know for certain? Or do we?
Does being a saint mean that we don’t experience human frailties? I would think not, then what does it mean to be a saint? Since I believe saints are as human as you and I and they can make mistakes, then what sets them apart?
A person can spend many hours in church or even the chapel and not be a saint. They can give away all their money and possessions to the less fortunate and still not be a saint. “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). They can speak eloquently with the ability to draw people to the Blessed Trinity and that will not make them a saint. The externals of what the world sees does not make one a saint. So what makes them a saint?
So… It is not the motion. It is the character and so much more. It is inside the person. It is the grace that the Lord bestows upon each and everyone of us that makes us a saint. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). And as the priest said, it is what we choose to do with the grace that makes us saints. Externals only are what people see. It is much deeper. Saints didn’t walk around saying, “What can I do to become a saint today?” It was nothing anyone could see.
If going to confession cleanses our soul and makes us a saint at that moment, then the internal has to be clean and a pure heart. This grace is given to us from God. It is the purity of our thoughts, actions, and love. It is a manner of being. It is action and beauty of Our Lord put in motion through us. It is His Will being accepted and acted upon, not our will.
There is no grunting over what needs or whatever. It is the sweet acceptance and diligence in following Our Lord, not in the eyes of the world or man. They can’t see the soul. It is pursuing God and HIS precepts with love and care. The following has to be very deep, much deeper than a quick empty prayer or a few minutes speaking once a day or once a week with Him. This is time genuinely spent in service and love of God not for payment for what He has done for us, but doing it because we truly love and want to give ourselves to Him completely. The actions stem from the heart and true desire to demonstrate to Our Lord that we love and are devoted to Him beyond ourselves. We do it with the help of His Grace. It is this grace which helps to achieve sainthood.
A saint doesn’t spend time thinking of worldly things, not that they don’t know what’s going on. They realize that in God’s timing all things occur. And as I like to say — “He’s got this!” “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? … Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin” (Matthew 6:26, 28). So a saint is not concerned with trying to be like the world. You are a child of the Living God. I AM.
Are you afraid of rejection? Whose rejection? God will not reject you. You are His. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Jesus wasn’t even accepted by the world. You are not made for this world. You are made by someone so much greater than this world. Are you trying still to seek the approval of the world? Why? Are you being your true self or some false version of yourself — one that allows the world to accept and love you? Do you really want their love? Honestly? Let’s really be honest. Even when they would not accept Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Do you know or even realize who you are? God knows who you are. He sees your soul. He knows your thoughts. He understands your actions. He sees everything. He knows you better than you know yourself. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). He loves you more than anything in this world. He doesn’t need you to perform actions to gain His love. He loves you as you are. You are precious in His sight.
Why? To be a saint you will need to put aside yourself and be willing to give up the world and all its gains for someone so much more loving and caring. Someone who gave up their life for you. You will have to risk/give up everything for this radical form of love.
A love so deep that it is beyond comprehension. Not something you can comprehend at this moment. It grows through all things.
Do you think when you suffer that the Blessed Trinity and Mary do not feel your pain? They are your parents, and Jesus, your brother. Family feels the pains of each other just as they feel the joys. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24).
Are you willing to risk everything for this radical form of love? Are you ready to become a saint in God’s eyes?
These are the questions I’ve been wrestling with: Are you willing to risk everything for this radical form of love? Are you ready to become a saint in God’s eyes? Over the next reflections, I’ll explore how grace, our daily choices, and living with love can help us move along this path.
Other posts in this series:
- Becoming a Saint in God’s Eyes Part II: Grace in Motion
- Becoming a Saint, Part III: Works
- Becoming a Saint in God’s Eyes Part IV: The Journey Grace and Works Joined Together
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