All Saints: That's us!
I know: Saint...not me! I'm no saint.
And don't ask me to pray and be holy, like I'm some kind of special religious person. I'm not a monk or a priest. I've got all these obligations: work, family. (You know the routine.)
Sorry, it doesn't fly. We're all called to be saints. Let's just face it and go from there.
Jesus said we should "be perfect." What's that if not being a saint? But isn't that too much? Who can be perfect?
You didn't think He meant that your every thought, word and deed every minute of every day would be perfect, did you? I don't think He meant that.
I recently read that perfection means constantly picking yourself up after each fall and not ever giving up. Now, c'mon, we can do that, right? Not that's it's easy, but it's doable. And it makes a lot of sense.
First of all, Jesus wouldn't have told us to "be perfect" if it was impossible. It's kind of insulting to Him if we think that. He's not going to tell us to do something impossible, or even unreasonable.
He also knows us, each one of us, and how we were born with Original Sin. We were imperfect from the get-go. We've got a lot to overcome. Even though Baptism took away Original Sin, the effects were not wiped out. We live as imperfect people with all sorts of other imperfect people. Life isn't perfect.
Hey, Jesus knows all that!
So He sets a standard for us: perfection. What other standard could He set? Would you really want Him to set any other standard? Would that make any sense?
And He'll be there to help us. We'll get all the grace we need to be perfect. He never gives us more than we can handle.
So now look at that definition of perfection again: perfection means constantly picking yourself up after each fall and not ever giving up.
Makes sense, doesn't it? Actually, makes perfect sense.
So Happy All Saints day, saints!
And don't ask me to pray and be holy, like I'm some kind of special religious person. I'm not a monk or a priest. I've got all these obligations: work, family. (You know the routine.)
Sorry, it doesn't fly. We're all called to be saints. Let's just face it and go from there.
Jesus said we should "be perfect." What's that if not being a saint? But isn't that too much? Who can be perfect?
You didn't think He meant that your every thought, word and deed every minute of every day would be perfect, did you? I don't think He meant that.
I recently read that perfection means constantly picking yourself up after each fall and not ever giving up. Now, c'mon, we can do that, right? Not that's it's easy, but it's doable. And it makes a lot of sense.
First of all, Jesus wouldn't have told us to "be perfect" if it was impossible. It's kind of insulting to Him if we think that. He's not going to tell us to do something impossible, or even unreasonable.
He also knows us, each one of us, and how we were born with Original Sin. We were imperfect from the get-go. We've got a lot to overcome. Even though Baptism took away Original Sin, the effects were not wiped out. We live as imperfect people with all sorts of other imperfect people. Life isn't perfect.
Hey, Jesus knows all that!
So He sets a standard for us: perfection. What other standard could He set? Would you really want Him to set any other standard? Would that make any sense?
And He'll be there to help us. We'll get all the grace we need to be perfect. He never gives us more than we can handle.
So now look at that definition of perfection again: perfection means constantly picking yourself up after each fall and not ever giving up.
Makes sense, doesn't it? Actually, makes perfect sense.
So Happy All Saints day, saints!
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