We have a spectacularly rich tradition and access to directions from many great saints, including 35 Doctors of the Church. If we want to find someone to give us specific directions in the pursuit of virtue, it is not hard to find it. It is probably easier to find than at any time in history, since the writings of both Popes past and present and the Doctors of the Church can be found for free online. We have nothing to complain about, in terms of how much is there to find. It is definitely harder to sort through all the things that we should stay away from.
If we wish there were someone giving everyone else more specific directions, though, that is something else again. We ought to be very careful about forming opinions about how pastors ought to be pastors to everyone else. There is a great deal of spiritual harm awaiting us in that direction.
“I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors’defects–not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.” St. Thérèse de Lisieux, Doctor of the Church
We may also feel that there is some not-so-subtle pressure to resign ourselves to spiritual mediocrity as if it were the same thing as humility…that is, we may find that in some quarters of the over one billion people who are baptized Catholics, we may run into “who do you think you are?” if we openly try to allow God to make us saints. I can only guess that there is a bit of that in every religion that reaches any size at all, though. People like to self-identify as being “good enough” and often don’t like to be challenged by those who hope to be taken to great heights. This happens on sports teams, too, sometimes, where the member of the team who is really intent on becoming his best is resented by teammates who don’t want to work that hard. Still, the best response to this is to do our best to examine that we really are trying to as good as we can be without seeking to be singled out for praise or recognition.
