Someone said to me that people are born saints. I remind
them through this post that only two people were born without Original Sin. The
Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the Immaculate Conception, and St.
John Baptist, who was cleansed of sin and filled with the Holy Spirit will in
the womb, at the Visitation.
All the rest of mankind has had to deal with concupiscence,
the tendency to sin, as well as the results of Original Sin, such as a weakened
will, a clouded intellect and the rule of the passions.
That some people are given tremendous graces early in life
cannot be doubted. St. Padre Pio and St. Gemma
Galgani were blessed with graces as youth.
Some saints experienced great life in God only later, such
as St. Benedicta of the Cross, a convert or St. Mary Magdalen, a reformed
sinner.
Firstly, one should never compare states of holiness. Not
only is this a waste of time, but severely damages one’s perspective and
interferes with one’s natural growth in grace.
The Holy Spirit, given to us in baptism and further stirred
into our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies in confirmation, comes to us a
“substantial manner” which Henry Edward Cardinal Manning reminds us in his
wonderful book, The Temporal Mission of
the Holy Spirit, is found in the Church.
To be a saint, secondly means, that one is in the Church,
where one has access to grace, from babyhood on to the end of one’s life.
Manning writes this, “Wherefore they who do not partake of
Him (the Spirit) and are not nurtured into life a the breast of the mother (the
Church), do not receive of that most pure fountain which proceeds from the body
of Christ, but dig out for themselves broken pools from the trenches of the
earth, and drink water stained with mire, because they turn aside from the
faith of the Church, let they should be convicted, and reject the Spirit let
they should be taught.”
What a condemnation of those who have been given grace, but
have deliberately walked away from the sacraments, the life of grace in the
Church.
Thirdly, becoming a saint requires work and attention. Again, Manning is helpful here, when he
quotes Tertullian on our creedal statement at baptism:
“But forasmuch as the attestation of (our) faith and the
promise of our salvation are pledged by three witnesses, the mention of the Church
is necessarily added, since where these are—that is, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost—there is the Church, which is the Body of the Three.”
To begin to be a saint, therefore, begins with the Creed,
the assent to the primary teachings of the Catholic Church. The Indwelling of the Trinity reveals these
to each baptized person, and guides each person who seeks, to find the Truth.
How does one become a saint?
By cooperating with natural law, which is “permanent and immutable”, as
Manning writes, and by moving into the life of grace given to the Church by
Christ Himself for our salvation.
Salvation is not merely the first rung on the ladder of
perfection. It is the beginning of the life of adventure which marks the saint.
All things then come together for the good of the person, in Christ, through
Divine Providence, and with the oversight of Mother Church
Few are born saints. Most are bred in the nursery of the
Catholic Church. Those who want to love God first, seeking the Bridegroom, will
not be turned away. The Church is like the Pole Star, a fixed mark which guides
us home to heaven.
to be continued…
