How can we become saints? If it is our one objective, how do we do it? For St Mother Teresa it means serving the poor.
Happy are those who consider the poor; the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
Psalm 41:1
Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven
We are all children of God—every human on the face of the earth bears the image of God. For those of us who are Christians, we are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven for which we are called to become more and more like Christ—in essence, to become saints.
We have learned from Thomas Merton that above becoming a great writer or artist, we should instead become a saint. The Inklings also maintained this, as have other Christian writers and poets and artists. That becoming a saint should supersede our becoming a writer or artist.
St Mother Teresa talks about this becoming too.
Here are some excerpts from the book Mother Teresa: In My Own Words …
In Her Own Words
“Holiness is not the luxury of a few. It is everyone’s duty: yours and mine.”
To become a saint is a duty we are all called to. But if it is our duty, how do we do it? How do we become saints? …
“In order to be saints, you have to seriously want to be one. Saint Thomas Aquinas assures us that holiness ‘is nothing else but a resolution made, the heroic act of a soul that surrenders to God.’ And he adds: ‘Spontaneously we love God, we run towards Him, we get close to Him, we possess Him.’ Our willingness is important because it changes us into the image of God and likens us to Him! The decision to be holy is a very dear one.”
But it’s not an easy road …
“Renunciation, temptation, struggles, persecutions, and all kinds of sacrifices are what surround the soul that has opted for holiness.”
Keep Your Mind in Hell and Do Not Fear
I heard a monk say once that the life of a Christian is not that of peace and everlasting bliss—rather it is a living hell. When we walk towards our Lord Christ, when we want to enter into loving union with Him, we will encounter great struggle, temptation, and sacrifices; but the more we draw closer to Him, the more He draws closer to us.
“If we do the work for God and for His glory, we may be sanctified.”
We’ve got to get the ego out of the way. So much of what we do, whether in creative fields and work or in our daily lives, is for the ego and not for the glory of God. We have to see that our lives are not our own. When we write or create, we have to know that we are doing it for the glory of God.
Reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s definition of humility: not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of your self less.
Meeting Christ by Meeting His Poor
For Saint Mother Teresa, becoming a saint is wrapped up in how we meet and serve the poor around us whether materially poor or spiritually poor …
“We should go out to meet people. Meet the people who live afar and those who live very close by. Meet the materially poor or the spiritually poor.”
We’re not called to be locked away in our studies or studios. We are called to be Christ to those around us who are in need. To give of ourselves—not easy in a world obsessed with comfort and ambition and success. Many people want to prolong life with everything they have because it’s all they’ve got—they’ve become affluent, they’ve had success, and they don’t want to leave it behind. During the covid event, people around the world realized that they are going to one day die–my friend describes it as a global mass panic attack!
Death Should Not Sadden Us
One temptation for many of us is to confess Christ and His resurrection on the one hand while striving after riches and success and accolades on the other in fear and loathing of our own death. We live as if the one with the most toys wins.
But St Mother Teresa says,
“The fact of death should not sadden us. The only thing that should sadden us is to know that we are not saints.”
It’s like what Arvo Part said, “We shouldn’t despair about writing poorly, but rather in praying poorly and living the wrong way.”
“The saints,” St Mother Teresa continues, “are all the people who live according to the law God has given us.”
And what is the law?
To love God and our neighbour as ourselves.
More on the Poor …
Here are a few more quotes from St Mother Teresa …
“Whoever the poorest of the poor are, they are Christ for us—Christ under the guise of human suffering.”
“God has created us so we do small things with great love. I believe in that great love, that comes, or should come from our heart, should start at home: with my family, my neighbors across the street, those right next door. And this love should then reach everyone.”
“Jesus comes to meet us. To welcome Him, let us go to meet Him. He comes to us in the hungry, the naked, the lonely, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the prostitute, the street beggars. He may come to you or me in a father who is alone, in a mother, in a brother, or in a sister. If we reject them, if we do not go out to meet them, we reject Jesus Himself.”
Fame and the Soul
Many believe that writing is their vocation.
But writing is simply one thing we do.
What we are really called to do, more than anything, is to love and serve others before ourselves.
Writing, art, creating are secondary.
What does it benefit one to be a best selling author or world renowned artist, and lose their own soul? …
St Mother Teresa, pray for us!
