When I Grow Up

Let me tell you two stories:

1. When I was a week boy of merely 11 years old, I walked into my Sunday School classroom and was asked the oddest question of my life up until that point. My teacher, who none of us had ever met before, stood up and asked, "Who wants to be a saint when they grow up?". Silence. Not a single person raised their had, let alone spoke. Who was this woman? Saints are shiny people in the sky! What did they have to do with me. I'm just a regular kid! I'm not a saint. Undaunted, she asked again, "Who wants to be a saint?". Silence again. Then she allowed a smile crossed her wrinkled older face, and she explained what sainthood really is.

St Anthony of Padua, My Patron

2. This past month, I worked for Lifeteen up in Boston as a summer missionary. There I met a missionary named Felix who, from day 1 of the mission, kept the same 6 words: "I want to be a saint". This blew my mind as if I was 11 years old in Sunday school again. Who was this guy? He dressed casually, he spoke normally, and with the exception of his gigantic afro, there was nothing outwardly different about him. But there was something unique about him. Something that it really took me a month to put my finger on. Felix was a man who wants to be a saint, and he has the gifts to get him there.

What I've learned is that saints are not born with halos on their heads and rosaries in their hands. Saints are not born old and wrinkly, as we see them in pictures and paintings. Saints do not stand on pedestals above us, or sit on benches to judge us. They are not just pictures in books that we read, or names that we write on pretty churches. Saints are people that are fully alive.

St Peter, Or First Pope

But what does that mean? What did they do that I'm not doing? It's deceptively simple. The saints are regular, everyday people that embraced every moment of their lives with unrestrained love and immeasurable enthusiasm. The saints are sinners like you and me that set themselves aside for the glory of their God and Savior. They were people that feared, got angry, cursed, drank, and failed to love at times. But they understood that they were the children of the Almighty, and they set aside all sin and all attachment to worldly things in order to live fully with He who is Life.

Brothers, they lived life the way it was meant to be lived. They did not settle for the things of this world! We are called to live the same life. How can you love today? How can you give glory to God in your work, classes, family, or relationships? How can you be a saint. Do not let anything stand in your path. If you have a past that you think stands in your way, offer it to God and live a life despite your past. If you have a wound or sin that you cannot let go of, humbly ask God to remove it and heal you so that Hid glory can shine through. Let nothing block you from what you are meant to be!

St Joseph, Model of Manliness

My friend Felix has what the saints have. A love for God that is ever deepening, and a love for others that gives life to everyone and every situation he encounters. Felix and the saints always point to Christ as their source and life, and they never turn from that.

I pray that we too can live our lives to the full as Christ says in John 10:10. I pray that we can cling to the cross like the saints do so that we can be truly one with Jesus our God. I pray that one day, when our pilgrimage on this earth is over, we can live forever with He who calls me to Life.

May the Lord our God bless us
All saints and angels, especially St Joseph, pray for us