By Father Rich Tomkosky
The Solemnity of All Saints, which was observed in the Church this past Sunday, celebrates all the known and unknown saints who are now in Heaven. We remember their heroic lives in order to hopefully have the inspiration ourselves to follow the Lord in a heroic way. If they could do it, so can we!
All of us are called to become saints by virtue of our Baptism and as the French writer Leon Bloy famously said, “the only real tragedy in life is if we do not become a saint!” There are saints for every vocation and for every temperament. We need to study their lives and encourage our children to do the same. Do we do that?
What’s the genius of the saints? They take the theoretical teachings of the four Gospels and our Catholic faith and bring it to life in concrete reality. Think of all the different saints: Thomas, Peter, Paul, Jerome, Augustine, Monica, Mary Magdalene, John Vianney, Therese, Faustina, Benedict Joseph Labre, John Paul II, Carlos Acutis among others. They are human beings with all different temperaments and backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses like us. What set them apart is they truly invited the Holy Spirit to transform them into the image of Christ in all areas of their lives, as a living sacrifice to the Lord in love.
The lives of the saints should fill us with hope. After all, if God could win the victory over satan, sin and death in their lives, He can do the same for us if only we trust Him and let Him work! It is a call to be generous with the Lord: to give Him our best, instead of our scraps. When you study the lives of the saints with their various backgrounds and vocations, it should encourage us because they overcame many obstacles with God’s grace, so can we!
The battle to pray, to be charitable, to be sexually chaste, to forgive ourselves and others, to mortify our fallen nature so that the new life of Christ given to us in seed form in Baptism can come to full maturity, to frequently make an honest confession of our sins in the Sacrament of Penance, to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of the Holy Mass, to live faithfully by the 10 Commandments and Beatitudes. It’s a daily call to grow in holiness. The daily temptation is there in our heart and mind to take the easy way out — the path of least resistance and selfishness, but in the end that brings no peace and many regrets.
The saints teach us that sanctity is the better way. It’s a divine gift offered to all if we are willing to be generous with Him. God is NEVER outdone in generosity and in fact wants us all to be saints. All God asks of us is to invite Him in fully! What a beautiful and noble adventure. Not easy, as this earthly life IS NOT EASY, but it is the only path to ultimate meaning and purpose. The wide path of sin leads to sadness and death. The narrow path of sanctity leads to the foot of the Cross; but it is there in union with Jesus that we find true joy and the peace that the world cannot give us – ever!
To become a saint means that our life has become completely rooted in God’s love. Sanctity means heroic goodness, not perfection, for in this life we are never perfect or fully free from all taint of sin, but a saint can say truly as Saint Paul powerfully states, “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives within me.”
Each saint shows the face of God in a special way, based on their unique life and personal gifts, to the world. Think of a stained-glass window in a Church when the sun shines through it. The glass is still there, even with some small imperfections, but when the sun hits it, we notice the sun shining through and how it makes the glass fully beautiful, despite any flaws. That is what happens to us when we grow in sanctity — the light of Christ shines through us, despite our weakness.
Also, the sanctity to which we are called is not for ourselves alone, but rather as members of the Mystical Body of the Church. It is a gift in order to help others achieve sanctity as well. We are all in this together. What a gift not simply to know our Catholic faith, but to HEROICALLY LIVE it in all the varied aspects of earthly life.
If it hasn’t happened already, ask the Lord in prayer and spiritual reading to show you one or two of the saints to be special spiritual friends to help you the rest of your time on earth. And to ask the saints to daily pray for us, for final perseverance in living the faith, so that when we die, we will join them in that perfect union with the Lord in Heaven directly or after a time in Purgatory, the final place of sanctification for humans in God’s mercy and justice.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove
Overview
What Sets the Saints Apart, and Our Call to Become Saints
By Father Rich Tomkosky
The Solemnity of All Saints, which was observed in the Church this past Sunday, celebrates all the known and unknown saints who are now in Heaven. We remember their heroic lives in order to hopefully have the inspiration ourselves to follow the Lord in a heroic way. If they could do it, so can we!
All of us are called to become saints by virtue of our Baptism and as the French writer Leon Bloy famously said, “the only real tragedy in life is if we do not become a saint!” There are saints for every vocation and for every temperament. We need to study their lives and encourage our children to do the same. Do we do that?
What’s the genius of the saints? They take the theoretical teachings of the four Gospels and our Catholic faith and bring it to life in concrete reality. Think of all the different saints: Thomas, Peter, Paul, Jerome, Augustine, Monica, Mary Magdalene, John Vianney, Therese, Faustina, Benedict Joseph Labre, John Paul II, Carlos Acutis among others. They are human beings with all different temperaments and backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses like us. What set them apart is they truly invited the Holy Spirit to transform them into the image of Christ in all areas of their lives, as a living sacrifice to the Lord in love.
The lives of the saints should fill us with hope. After all, if God could win the victory over satan, sin and death in their lives, He can do the same for us if only we trust Him and let Him work! It is a call to be generous with the Lord: to give Him our best, instead of our scraps. When you study the lives of the saints with their various backgrounds and vocations, it should encourage us because they overcame many obstacles with God’s grace, so can we!
The battle to pray, to be charitable, to be sexually chaste, to forgive ourselves and others, to mortify our fallen nature so that the new life of Christ given to us in seed form in Baptism can come to full maturity, to frequently make an honest confession of our sins in the Sacrament of Penance, to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of the Holy Mass, to live faithfully by the 10 Commandments and Beatitudes. It’s a daily call to grow in holiness. The daily temptation is there in our heart and mind to take the easy way out — the path of least resistance and selfishness, but in the end that brings no peace and many regrets.
The saints teach us that sanctity is the better way. It’s a divine gift offered to all if we are willing to be generous with Him. God is NEVER outdone in generosity and in fact wants us all to be saints. All God asks of us is to invite Him in fully! What a beautiful and noble adventure. Not easy, as this earthly life IS NOT EASY, but it is the only path to ultimate meaning and purpose. The wide path of sin leads to sadness and death. The narrow path of sanctity leads to the foot of the Cross; but it is there in union with Jesus that we find true joy and the peace that the world cannot give us – ever!
To become a saint means that our life has become completely rooted in God’s love. Sanctity means heroic goodness, not perfection, for in this life we are never perfect or fully free from all taint of sin, but a saint can say truly as Saint Paul powerfully states, “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives within me.”
Each saint shows the face of God in a special way, based on their unique life and personal gifts, to the world. Think of a stained-glass window in a Church when the sun shines through it. The glass is still there, even with some small imperfections, but when the sun hits it, we notice the sun shining through and how it makes the glass fully beautiful, despite any flaws. That is what happens to us when we grow in sanctity — the light of Christ shines through us, despite our weakness.
Also, the sanctity to which we are called is not for ourselves alone, but rather as members of the Mystical Body of the Church. It is a gift in order to help others achieve sanctity as well. We are all in this together. What a gift not simply to know our Catholic faith, but to HEROICALLY LIVE it in all the varied aspects of earthly life.
If it hasn’t happened already, ask the Lord in prayer and spiritual reading to show you one or two of the saints to be special spiritual friends to help you the rest of your time on earth. And to ask the saints to daily pray for us, for final perseverance in living the faith, so that when we die, we will join them in that perfect union with the Lord in Heaven directly or after a time in Purgatory, the final place of sanctification for humans in God’s mercy and justice.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove