There is a very subtle danger that we face in honoring the saints. The danger is not, as some non-Catholics believe, that honoring the saints is a distraction from God or even offensive to God since when a saint is honored, it is God who is glorified. Rather, the danger that we face in honoring the saints is that we admire them–but from a distance. We marvel at the person of St. Clare, St. Francis, St. Theresa, St. Benedict, etc. We stand in awe as we contemplate their lives of prayer, the poverty they choose to embrace, the apostolic works they perform for the glory of God, or the miracles God perform through them. And the danger is, that this is all we do.
We admire them, but we don’t imitate them.
If we had the opportunity to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with one of the saints, whether it be one of our favorite saints whom we may have a devotion to, or some obscure saint whom we are not familiar with, what do you think they would want to tell us? Personally, I believe each saint in their own way would say something like this: “Don’t just admire my life. Rather, love as I loved, pray as I prayed, serve as I served, believe as I believed, hope as I hoped, and most importantly, give yourself totally to God and don’t look back.” Hence, what the saints want most from us is not merely admiration, but imitation.
If it is the life of poverty that St. Francis and St. Clare embraced that leaves you in awe, how then can you simplify your life?
If the generous service to the poor and dying that was prevalent in the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta inspires you, how then can you serve those around you who are in need?
If the prayerful and ordered life of St. Benedict leaves you marveling in wonder, how can your life become more ordered so as to create more space for prayer?
Which ever saint or saints we admire most, it is worth prayerfully considering how I can imitate those qualities of a particular saint in my own life.
Hidden beneath all of this is a very important principle in the spiritual life that very often is either forgotten or simply not believed. The principle is this: God is giving each one of us the grace to become a saint right now. Jesus told St. Paul “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). St. Paul says in his letter to Titus that “The grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to…live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world” (Titus 2:11-12). In other words, holiness is possible for each one of us, regardless of our past, our wounds, our vocation, age, weaknesses, failures, etc. Regarding holiness, there are no legitimate excuses simply because the power and beauty of God’s grace is greater than anything we can fathom.
The lives of the saints, especially what they did, how they suffered, and the ways in which God used them are all very impressive. They certainly deserve our admiration! However, what is most impressive is how each one of the saints in their own way gave themselves to God without reserve. This is ultimately what the saints desire of us as well. We should not only admire the saints but imitate them, and maybe even God willing, go even further than they did in their gift of self to God.
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Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
