“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
SUNDAY, July 4th Mk. 6: 1-6 “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.’”
- This verse is for us, those who love Jesus, who are trying to follow and imitate Jesus. We are not always understood or appreciated, sometimes even in our own homes, among our own families, let alone the world at large!
- In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tell us: “Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy.” (Mt. 5:48)
- Jesus tells us what that means: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be holy, therefore, as your heavenly Father is holy.” (Mt. 5:43-48)
- Holiness is our first calling and vocation – before all others. What does it mean to be holy? “I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” This is something understood by all the saints, without exception.
- Therefore, let us pray with Fr. Ed’s meditation on the most salient characteristics of the saints, and beg the Lord to grow in holiness by His grace! So that we may truly be children of our Father in heaven, loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.
BE HOLY AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS HOLY! By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
All of us are called to become saints. How do we know? Jesus commanded us: “Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy.” (Mt. 5:48) In other words: Become a saint! Most saints have not been officially canonized, but are anonymous, unknown except by God alone.
Given that this is a serious command given by Jesus Himself, to be holy, to become a saint, let us briefly highlight ten of the most salient notes or characteristics of the saints. This will serve to motivate each and every one of us to become who God has called us to be, to become a Saint!
1 ANTITHESIS OF SAINTLINESS: SIN. Let us start with the negative. Saints have an abhorrence; they truly detest the one major evil in the world—the reality of sin. Modern culture glamorizes and even promotes sin; the saints fight against it. The motto of Saint Dominic Savio for his first Holy Communion was the following immortal assertion: DEATH RATHER THAN SIN!
2. PRAYER! It is absolutely impossible to read the life of any saint who did not take their prayer life seriously and spend sizable blocks of time dedicated to prayer, which is union and friendship with God. (Saint Teresa of Avila) Face it: we can all improve in our prayer life. We can pray more, and we can always pray better. May the Holy Spirit enlighten and inspire us to upgrade our prayer life in our pursuit of holiness.
2. HUMILITY. Saints are truly humble. By humility we mean the following: saints attribute all the good that they do to God—the origin, the author, and end of all good. When complimented on any good done, almost spontaneously the saint responds: Thanks be to God!
3. HUNGER FOR HOLINESS. An authentic saint has a real hunger and thirst for exactly that—holiness, to become a saint. If you like, the saint lives out the first verse of Psalm 41: “As the deer yearns for the running waters, so my soul yearns for you, O Lord, my God.” A saint admits that they are not a saint, but really longs to be a saint one day. This longing, this yearning indeed is half the battle of attaining the crown of holiness, winning the crown of saintliness. Many yearn for money, power, pleasure, success, and possessions. Not so for the saint: they want to love God fully, totally and unreservedly; they long to be the saint God has called them to be!
4. CHARITY. The saint is motivated to assimilate and carry out in word and deed the greatest of all the Commandments—the Command to love both God and neighbor. If you want to see a graphic image of charity, lift up your eyes to Jesus crucified, Jesus hanging from the cross, and you have a clear image of charity. We are called to love God totally and Jesus gave us a new command: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn. 15:12) On one occasion, Jesus appeared to Saint Thomas Aquinas after he had achieved enormous accomplishments and asked the saint what gift he desired most. Immediately Aquinas responded: “Lord, grant me the grace to love you more and more each day.” Saint John of the Cross asserted: “In the twilight of our existence we will be judged on love.” Saint Frances de Sales adds to this with these words: “The measure that we should love God is to love Him without measure.”
5. ZEAL FOR THE SALVATION OF SOULS. Two saints met, one a youngster, the other, a priest. The youngster looked up and saw on the wall a few words written in Latin, and he asked the priest what those words were and what they meant. The priest responded by saying that those words were his motto, and they were: “Give me souls and take all the rest away.” The priest was Saint John Bosco; the youngster was Saint Dominic Savio. An authentic saint loves God and loves what God loves—the salvation of immortal souls. One soul is worth more than the whole created universe! The reason for the excruciating pain that Jesus suffered in His Passion and the outpouring of His most Precious Blood was precisely this: to save immortal souls for all eternity! The stigmata Saint Padre Pio bore for fifty years, the 13-18 hours daily in the Confessional in the life of the Cure of Ars – Saint John Vianney, the heroic sacrifices of the little children of Fatima, the victimhood of Saint Faustina, all had one motivational reason and force: the love of God and the hunger and thirst for the salvation of souls.
6. STRUGGLING SINNERS THAT RISE WHEN THEY FALL. Many have been deceived and misled into an artificial, sugar-sweet, romantic vision of a saint as someone exempt from human weaknesses and moral failures. Nothing could be further from the truth! Saints are born sinners. However, a common characteristic of the saint is that upon falling, sinner that they are, they resiliently bounce back! They return to the Lord through a Confession of good will and firm purpose of amendment. Venerable Bruno Lanteri, Founder of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, taught NUNC CAEPI—meaning—if we fall, we must rise immediately and trust all the more in the grace and mercy of the loving Heart of Jesus. No surprise that in the Diary of Saint Faustina, Jesus reminds us that the greatest sinner can become the greatest saint if they TRUST in the mercy of Jesus. Venerable Fulton Sheen points out that the first canonized saint was a thief, murderer and insurrectionist who hung on a cross next to Jesus on Calvary. Sheen goes on to say: “And he died a thief because he stole heaven.” Read and meditate on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, that can also be termed the Parable of the Merciful Father. (Lk. 15:11-32)
7. FERVENT LOVE FOR THE SOURCE OF ALL HOLINESS: THE HOLY EUCHARIST. The ultimate source of grace, purity, strength and holiness is Jesus Himself. The most efficacious means by which we unite ourselves with Jesus in His Mystical Body is through the Sacraments. The greatest of all of the Sacraments is the Most Holy Eucharist for the simple but profound reason that the Eucharist actually is Jesus—His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! Jesus is the Holy of Holies; He is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Though it may sound banal or trivial or even a cliché, there is a truism behind this one liner: “You become what you eat!” Bad eating habits can produce health problems; good eating habits can contribute to health and longevity. In a parallel and real sense, when we nourish our souls with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, with faith, devotion, fervor and love, we start to think like Jesus, feel like Jesus, act like Jesus, become like Jesus until we can say with Saint Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20)
8. OPEN AND DOCILE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. Father Jacques Phillipe wrote a short masterpiece on this topic with the title “In the School of the Holy Spirit.” In this short but inspiring book, Father Jacques constantly reminds his readers that holiness essentially depends on one basic attitude, action, and plan of life: being docile to the Holy Spirit and His heavenly inspirations. The Consoler, Counselor, Interior Master, Paraclete, Sweet Guest of the Soul—all names for the Holy Spirit who speaks gently but insistently to the pure, humble, docile soul, guiding them in the proper course of action that leads to holiness of life, that leads us to become the saints that we are all called and destined to become. Saint Paul reminds us: “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with ineffable groans so that we can call out Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:26) It is precisely for this reason that Pope Saint John XXIII stated: “The saints are the masterpieces of the Holy Spirit.”
9. MARY AND THE SAINTS. Our Lady, Mary most holy, is Queen of the Angels, Queen of the Virgins, Queen of the Confessors, Queen of the Martyrs, Queen and beauty of Carmel, Queen of the most Holy Rosary, and finally, Mary is Queen of all of the Angels and Saints. After he died, Saint Dominic Savio appeared bathed in heavenly glory to Saint John Bosco and told the holy priest what gave him the greatest joy in his short life on earth (14 years and 11 months). His greatest joy was his great love and confidence in the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Dominic ended this encounter with Saint John Bosco by exhorting him to spread devotion to Mary to the greatest extent possible. Mary inspires the saints to pray fervently. Mary inspires the saints to return to God after they sin. Mary encourages the saints to love Jesus with their whole being. Mary’s presence helps the saints to avoid moral dangers. Mary’s maternal and loving presence helps the saints to move from desolation to consolation. For that reason, the saints cry out to Mary in these words: “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.”
Our final prayer and hope is that all of our readers will become saints and great saints. Our hope and prayer is that all of you will one day be a very precious, resplendent and glorious jewel in the crown of Mary and contemplate and praise the Blessed Trinity for all eternity.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us so that we can attain the grace to truly become the saint that God has destined us to become for all eternity.
Copyright 2021 Oblates of the Virgin Mary / St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
