Called to be Saints

I woke up early this morning and could not get back to sleep. As I was trying to relax, a thought kept entering my mind - saints.

We are all called to become saints. But what does this mean exactly? Should we give up everything, like the Apostles, and follow Jesus? Should we sell everything and give to the poor? Should we seek out those who are persecuted and give our lives for them?

I seriously doubt this is what God had in mind when He calls us to become saints. For 'seeking' to become a saint when we are not following the path God leads for us, we fail in our efforts.

So what does it mean to be a saint? St. Maximillian, my patron, received a message from Mary - to take a white crown or red. He chose both. What about St. Therese, St. Faustina, or St. Gemma? All virgins and all received messages from God. Does the message make them a saint? Does the fact that St. Max chose both crowns?

Do you have to be a Priest or Religious to be a saint? What about St. Jane de Chantel or St. Theophano? Both were married yet became saints - and there are many others.

It's not in the extraordinary things that they became saints...it's in the ordinary. They all chose to follow God's will wherever it led them. They chose to put God in front of everything else that happened.

They chose.

To be a saint is to choose to keep God in the foremost part of your life. To put Him first and to be thankful for everything that you have and do not have. It means to choose God's way, not your way.

It was not that these men and women were prophetic or virgins or married or had visions. It was that they cared more about God's will than their own. They cared more about the well-being of others and giving everything they had to help others.

We are called to be saints - not in the extraordinary, but in the ordinary.