When was a time that you really wanted something? I don’t just mean wanted something like you had a craving for ice cream. That’s me every day.
I mean a big thing, a life-changing thing, something you had your heart set on and it was the only thing you could think about. It consumed you night and day, and you would have done anything to get it. I think of when I was 12 years old and wanted a nice bike.
I was used to hand-me-downs and cheap ones, but I wanted a GOOD one. And so I got a paper route, I worked every day, and I saved up every penny I could. I didn’t buy toys, I didn’t waste money on candy—I knew what I wanted and I worked for it.
I think of myself in high school playing baseball. I didn’t just want to be on the team, I wanted to play, and I wanted to be the best. And so, I went to the gym.
I woke up early to run. I practiced and practiced and practiced with my eyes set on glory. Somewhat comically now, but I think back to when I fell in love with this one girl.
Man, I was obsessed over her and spent all of my time thinking of the right thing to say, the right things to wear, how to be the best, most likable me that she might want to go on a date with me. Nothing else mattered. In each of these things, and in so many others throughout our lives, something rises to the top of our priority list and takes over.
When we really want something, when it speaks to the depths of our souls, nothing else matters and we are willing to do anything to get it. Sacrifice, commitment, focus, determination. There comes this drive in us that nothing can stop.
And so here’s my question for you. Here’s the point of the video. Do you feel that sort of drive to become a saint?
Is being a saint the thing you want more than anything in life, something you’d be willing to give up everything to achieve? On the one hand, my guess is that everyone will say “of course. ” “yes.
” “obviously. ” To be a saint is all I want in life. It’s the right answer and no one is going to say that they don’t to go to heaven.
And yet, I think if we were to look at how we spend out time, what we obsess over, what we sacrifice for, what drives our every move… very few of us could honestly say that becoming a saint is what we desire most in life. This is a problem. In the Gospels, Jesus does not say that everyone will be saved.
He does not say that all you have to do is to be a good person, believe in him, and go about your life as normal and everything will be fine. No, in Matthew 7 he says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. ” Simply recognizing him as God is not enough.
In Luke 13 he exhorts the disciples to enter through the narrow gate, “for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. ” In John 14 he declares that he is “the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
” And that the only way to follow him is to leave everything behind and take up your cross. There are no part-time disciples. There are no casual followers with Jesus.
Unless you give your entire life, entire will, entire being over to him, transforming everything about yourself to conform to him… you will have no place in him. He turned the rich man away for refusing to give up his money. The virgins are locked out for being unprepared and falling asleep.
The would-be-followers of Jesus leave without him chasing after them because they refused to accept the demands of discipleship. In other words, the only ones who are getting into heaven, are the saints. For what are the saints but people who put God first?
People who lived with heroic virtue, who hated their sins, who put their needs aside for the sake of the Gospel, who did not fear but went where they were needed, caring little for the things of this world. We’re talking about people like St. Peter who gave up his life for the faith; St.
Theresa of Calcutta who served the poor in slums; Francis of Assisi who dedicated his life to imitating Jesus in humility; Catherine of Siena who dedicated her life to prayer and study in order to bring peace to the world. These are not super heroes. They were not blessed with supernatural abilities or special powers.
They were all, every one of them, ordinary men and women by birth, people who faced temptations, struggled with sin, dealt with disappointment, and worried about their lives. They were once children, and then teenagers, and then adults. They may have lived in a different time than us but they lived in the world just the same.
What separates them from us is not some innate, virtuous quality that we do not have, it is not some special treatment from God. No, the only thing that separates them from us is that they put Jesus Christ and his Gospel above everything else. They desired it so much that they were willing to let everything else go.
So often we put the saints up on pedestals, out of reach, as if they are gods themselves. We admire their incredible lives as objects to be revered with wonder, to be praised with joy, but nothing more. With our lips we pray to them for inspiration, but with our hearts we remain where we are.
We put them up so high to convince ourselves that what they did is impossible for us, that we could never be anything like them because they’re extraordinary and we are but ordinary. My dear brothers and sisters, this is a problem. It’s a problem that St.
Francis of Assisi recognized in his time, more than 800 years ago. In his admonitions to the brothers, he wrote, “It is a great shame for us… that the saints have accomplished great things and we want only to receive glory and honor by recounting them. ” In other words, it is a shame that we praise the saints and yet do not strive to be like them.
Pope Francis wrote a similar sentiment in his apostolic exhortation, Guadete et exsultate. He wrote, “The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence.
” The saints are not the exception, they are the expectation. Let me say that again: the saints are not the exception, they are the expectation. They are the goal, the model, the way to follow that all of us MUST follow.
They are heroic in virtue, they are admirable in faith, yes, but the point of remembering them and asking for their intercession is not to worship them as so far beyond us, it is to remind us that we too can be heroic in virtue, we too can be admirable in faith. And we must. We MUST.
There is no other way to heaven. And so, I’ll ask again: do you have the drive to become a saint? Is this what you want more than anything else in life?
We know that the only way to true happiness is to live totally in and for God. It is not money, not fame, not the perfect spouse, not success, not anything from this world and yet, for some reason, each of these things get more attention from most of us than our desire to be holy. I know this, because if being a saint was actually our highest goal, our lives would look completely different.
If becoming a saint were the highest priority, every one of us would be getting up early to pray a holy hour every single day, devoting far more time to being with God than we are right now. Every one of us would be looking inward to our thoughts, feelings, and actions, ridding every bit of gossip, judgment, lust, impatience, and hatred from our lives. The very existence of any sin would upset us to our core that we might not be as close to Jesus as we should be.
Every one of us would be cleaning out our closets, attics, and bank accounts, donating every spare item we have for the poor rather than keeping things to ourselves and worrying about our own safety. Every one of us would be worried sick about the world around us that does not yet know Jesus, compelled to drop everything in order evangelize them like their lives depended on it. Does sound extreme?
Yeah. Sound difficult you bet. There’s no way to do it without sacrifice, commitment, focus, determination.
We’ll never come close without putting everything second—EVERYTHING second—and devoting our lives completely to the life of Jesus. But do you know what? There’s no other way.
There are no part-time disciples. There are no casual followers with Jesus. No one ever achieves greatness in anything without this level of dedication, and what we desire truly is greatness in the Lord.
St. Paul writes, “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win.
Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. ” Run as to win.
Seek the imperishable crown with every fiber of your being, not with physical strength but with moral strength, with faith, with virtue, with love. Because unless you give your entire life, entire will, entire being over to him, transforming everything about yourself to conform to him… you will have no place in him. And so, today’s the day you have to ask yourself.
Today’s the day you’ve got to look at your life and your priorities and ask yourself, am I all in on this or just part of the way? Am I a real disciple or just a fan? Am I willing to do anything and everything it takes to live the Gospel as perfectly as I can, or am I willing to accept that Jesus will see me as a would-be follower and turn me away?
Today’s the day you make a change. Drp your sinful habit. Start praying more.
Begin loving and forgiving everyone with mercy. Let go of everything that distracts you from living the Gospel. You may be looked at strange by people who were once your friends.
They may be confused by your intensity, offended by your zeal, put off by how much you’ve changed. They may call you crazy or make fun of you or even try to prevent you. But what good is it to gain the world if you lose your soul?
What good is it to have everything in this life if you do not one day become a saint in heaven? Today’s the day you quit being a part time Christian and you start giving everything, everything to Jesus.
