1st NOVEMBER: SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS. Reflection by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer(1902-75): “The call to love God with all one’s heart and with all one’s mind and with all one’s soul, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, not just in theory but in practice, is addressed to every man and woman. This is God’s will, your sanctification, as Saint Paul said to the first Christians. This message is ‘as old as the Gospel and as new as the Gospel.’ God is calling all baptized people to the fullness of sanctity. Let us not deceive ourselves: in our life we will find vigour and victory and depression and defeat. This has always been true of the earthly pilgrimage of Christians, even of those we venerate on the altars. Do you remember Peter, Paul, Augustine, Francis and Ignatius? I have never liked biographies of saints which naïvely, but also with a lack of sound doctrine, present their deeds as if they had been confirmed in grace from birth. No. The true life stories of Christian heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and lost. And then, repentant, they returned to the fray. Even if he can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life, a saint has heroic virtue because he has been transparent and available for the work of God. We should not be surprised to find ourselves defeated relatively often, usually or even always in things of little importance which we tend to take seriously. If we love God and are humble, if we persevere relentlessly in our struggle, the defeats will never be very important. There will also be abundant victories which bring joy to Gods eyes. There is no such thing as failure if you act with a right intention, wanting to fulfil Gods will and counting always on His grace and your own nothingness. Holiness consists in identifying oneself with God, with that God of ours who is infinite and inexhaustible. Each day be conscious of your duty to be a saint. And that does not mean doing strange or extraordinary things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end. To be holy is not easy, but it is not difficult either. To be holy is to be a good Christian, to resemble Christ. The more closely a person resembles Christ, the more Christian he is, the more he belongs to Christ, the holier he is. The saints, who were perfectly ordinary, normal beings like you and me, also felt those natural inclinations. And if they had not felt them, their supernatural reaction of keeping their heart, soul and body for God would have had little merit. That is why, once the way is seen, I think that the hearts weaknesses need be no obstacle for a determined soul, for a soul in love with God. Sanctity consists in struggling, in knowing that we have defects and in heroically trying to overcome them. Sanctity, I insist, consists in overcoming those defects, although we will still have defects when we die, for if not, we would become proud. The saints are those who struggle right to the end of their lives, who always get up each time they stumble, each time they fall, and courageously embark on their way once more with humility, love and hope. God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us everyday in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the clinic, in the hospital, in the university, in schools, in the office, in the army barracks, in the law courts, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in the immense panorama of work. There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each and every one of you to discover it. Your duty is to sanctify yourself. Yes, even you. Who thinks that this task is only for priests and religious? To everyone, without exception, our Lord said: Be perfect, as My Heavenly Father is perfect!’”
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 23:53:52 +0000
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