3 things the saints have in common - Rector's Rambling for November 10, 2019

Last week I wrote about Fr. Solanus Casey, our local  Detroit saint who is in the process of being canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.  And in my sermon I mentioned several other saints: Paschal Baylon, Charles Borromeo, Maximilian Kolbe, and Samuel Isaac Joseph Scherewschewsky.  All of them came from different backgrounds and starting points in the spiritual life, and all of them are considered saints in the church even though they all had different temperaments and gifts at the end of their earthly life.

Being a saint does not mean we become some sort of mind-numbed robot.  We become saints in many unique ways just as we start out our lives with unique attributes.  Some of these God uses for our greater sanctification, others God strips away so that other gifts from Him can come to the forefront and be used by him.

Despite the many differences, however, there are things that the saints, holy people in general, do share in common.

Fr. Fredrick Faber, a friend and compatriot of St. John Henry Newman, and author of the great hymn Faith of our fathers! living still, writes in his book All for Jesus:

“I do not mean to say we can easily be equal to saints.  No!  But what I say is that the ways in which they loved God and served the interests of Jesus … are easily in our power, if we choose to adopt them.  In a word, while the saints differ in almost everything else, here are three things in which they all agree: eagerness for the glory of God; touchiness about the interests of Jesus; and anxiety for the salvation of souls.”

Are we striving for their attributes in our lives?  Putting aside our own self-interests in order to glorify God, promoting the interests of Jesus, and working to bring others to Him?  Rather than focusing on self we need to instead, as Jesus says, deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (see Matthew 16:24).