Can We Be Saints?

Preparatory Prayer:

"Hear us, O God Our Savior, Who art the hope of all the ends of the earth and in the sea afar off." Psalm 64.

Setting:

In the account of the Sermon on the Mount there are evidences of the quiet reserve and majestic hearing of the Preacher. He walks alone, it would seem, up along the rising ground and halts when He is a little elevated above the people whom He is going to address. He turns round then and faces them, seats Himself, and only then beckons them to come up after Him. "When He was set down, His disciples came unto Him." There is indication of the deliberateness with which He speaks in the words that follow. "Opening His mouth, He taught them." Nothing is rushed, there is no loss of dignity. He will speak as one with authority and would impress them by His perfect selfpossession. It is not without reason that this point is stressed at the beginning of my meditation this morning. I too must approach prayer in that spirit of tranquillity; rushing into prayer, without preparation or forethought, is sure to be fatal. What is this thing upon which I am going to occupy myself? I am going to look and listen and speak to God.

Fruit:

To recognize that, as a Catholic, I am called to a life of great holiness.

Can we be saints we who spend our time rushing out to business each morning, catching a train to the city, working all day in factory or mill or grocery or drug store? Can we be saintswe who attend the university or high school, who are keenly alive to the appeal of this modern throbbing world, alert to its invitation to go all out for a good time? Can we be saints? We mothers of families, we fathers responsible for big business, we policemen directing traffic or sifting out evidence, we who live in back streets, in great poverty, in the midst of those who earn their living by sin - can we be saints? And we who own magnificent houses, who handle big money, who drive in a latest model car, who have only to lift a little finger and we are obeyed - can we be saints ?

Or is sanctity the exclusive privilege of those who aspire to become religious or priests, or who have already attained to that state which regards the effort to become saints as of its very essence?

If Our divine Lord was to walk this morning through New York He would invite "all" to follow Him. He would lead them to a quiet spot; He would sit down before them; He would then beckon them to gather around Him, and, when all was thus made ready, He would open His mouth to speak, and His message would be a command that they, all of them, become saints! A command, you will observe; not a recommendation, not an ideal to be pursued or left aside according to their own whims. He lays on this group of men and women and children, collected from the most widely diverging walks of life, the command to be saints. "Be ye perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect."

In view of this definite injunction, there does not seem any justification for those who consider that they may, if they choose, content themselves with avoidance of mortal sin and a mere escape from hell. Such a selfish mentality betrays a lamentable lack of understanding of the love of God and our obligation to love Him. Catholics of this type serve God as if He were a Shylock (from Shakespeare _ go ahead look it up in " The Merchant of Venice") on the watch all the time to catch them out and hurl them into hell!

Jesus, if You are urging me to become a saint, teach me what sanctity is and give me Your grace to aspire to it.