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Last week, we talked about the saints as both our patrons and our companions. They both pray for us from their posts in heaven and serve as our models. But sometimes people feel that the saints are so far away from them, that their ways of life are unattainable, and so they couldn’t possibly be their models. People say, “Oh, I could never be Mother Teresa and work in a hospice in Calcutta and take care of the sick and dying!” But of course you’re not meant to do exactly what Mother Teresa did, or even be who Mother Teresa was. Now, you might be called to work with the poor, and maybe in a slum, and maybe even in India, but you’re not called to do it exactly like her. You’re not supposed to be Mother Teresa.
Too often we short circuit God’s plans for our own holiness by comparing ourselves to some other saint or saying that we can’t possibly be a saint in our own daily lives. People say, “I’m just a student.” “I’m just a teacher.” “I’m just a grandparent.” But you’re not “just” anything, because God has created you as a beautiful and unique person. So you’re called to be a saint in your own way. As the Trappist monk Thomas Merton said, “For me to be a saint means to be myself.” So maybe it’s time to stop trying to be like someone else. Stop looking at someone else’s roadmap to holiness. Because all the directions you have are inside your heart. As St. Francis de Sales said, “Be who you are and be that perfectly well.”
Saints (confirmed by the Church) are extraordinary. That's why they're saints (in the public sense of the word). They're known, at the time of their death to have lived according to the call of God, and to have subjugated their own egos(and will) toward that effort.
Great! I love to nap and laze around. I can be the patron saint of napping! Who knew it was so easy to be a saint? Mother Theresa, you worked too hard. Sucka!
Try reading what Father Martin said. For instance at the end when he quotes Francis de Sales saying that holiness comes with being perfectly who you are.
That does not mean choosing the path of least resistance.
Carl, your post quoting St. Francis de Sales, “being perfectly who you are,” impressed me as it echoed a “message” I recently experienced, heaven’s answer (not sure) to a bedtime prayer fast asleep following my nightly rosary. I’ll try to be brief, not burdening you with words.
The supposed message uttered by the sweetest voice I ever heard, seemingly female and oh, so sweet said, “We like you the way you are!” I had prayed to St. Padre Pio for some degree of physical healing, having asked Jesus in the Lent of 2018, to make me another Simon of Cyrene, allowing me to relieve Jesus of some of His Salvific pain. Unexpectedly numerous health issues descended on me, including a sudden inability to walk unaided, now dependent on a wheelchair tohave You forsaken me?”
I’m reading C.B. Ruffin’s “Padre Pio, The True Story.” If ever there was a saint being perfectly who he was, it was Pio! A fabulous, human saint, not unwilling to show anger. By the way, some of the thoughts sent somehow didn't come through, but this post will go exactly as is and hopefully it makes som e sense to you
Try reading what Father Martin said. For instance at the end when he quotes Francis de Sales saying that holiness comes with being perfectly who you are.
That does not mean choosing the path of least resistance.
Try reading what Father Martin said. For instance at the end when he quotes Francis de Sales saying that holiness comes with being perfectly who you are.
That does not mean choosing the path of least resistance.
"Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk there, you must be prepared to leap"
St. Hildegard of Bingen - The latest Doctor of the Church
https://www.azquotes.com/author/21274-Hildegard_of_Bingen
Fr. Martin here sounds a little like Al Franken's character, Stuart Smalley, who ended each daily affirmation with "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." Self-affirmation is especially a temptation in today's society, where the only sins we reject are the sins of others. The Gospel is full of calls to repentance and rejection of sin. The whole Sermon on the mount is worth re-reading. Last sentence of Mt 5 summarizes the chapter with the admonition "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5:48). And Jesus in John says "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15).
Ugh. Protestant prooftexting is the worst denigration of Christ's teachings there is.
Once I showed a documentary about Mother Teresa to my high school theology class. After view ing it I mentioned to the students that I could never do what she did. Then the thought flashed through my mind: "But she could never teach these high school students theology!" As St. Paul says "Each one has their own gift from God." 1 Cor. 7:7
Preach the Gospel--when necessary use words! Mr. Rogers knew this well! I love you just the way you are! Will you be my neighbor--the other in love!
Windows 10 operating system comes with both a help system and a troubleshooter tool to https://foxdownload.org get you working quickly and smoothly.
Carl, your post quoting St. Francis de Sales, “being perfectly who you are,” impressed me as it echoed a “message” I recently experienced, heaven’s answer (not sure) to a bedtime prayer fast asleep following my nightly rosary. I’ll try to be brief, not burdening you with the flora and fragrance of words
The supposed message uttered by the sweetest voice I ever heard, seemingly female and oh, so sweet said, “We like you the way you are!” I had prayed to St. Padre Pio for some degree of physical healing, having asked Jesus in the Lent of 2018, to make me another Simon of Cyrene, allowing me to relieve Jesus of some of His Salvific pain. Unexpectedly numerous health issues descended on me, including a sudden inability to walk unaided, now dependent on a wheelchair to get around. Those words an invigorating shot in the arm, yet unexpectedly with Jesus, I found myself crying out, “Why have You forsaken me?”
I’m reading C.R. Ruffin’s “Padre Pio, The True Story.” If ever a saint who he was and remained true to self, it was Pio!
The big thing to know about yourself that who we are. Hostgator Coupon will help to know more about this offer of saving some thing.