Can anyone become a Saint?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Monica4316
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Monica4316

Guest
I hope this doesn’t sound silly…:o

I have many sins and I am far from perfect, but I really want to have a pure heart to love God and to learn humility and if it’s His will, to become a saint. Is this at all attainable for Catholics who still struggle with sin on a daily basis? It seems with the Saints, they were either very devout from childhood (St Gemma, St Therese), or were great sinners but then turned around and became very devout (St Augustine, St Mary Magdalene). But about people who were great sinners, then became Catholic, and then continued to sin? Can they still achieve holiness here on earth? It seems no matter how much I try, there’s still so much imperfection in me. I dont know how to overcome pride, or how to learn to love God completely, or how to be pure of heart.

hope this makes sense 🙂 I know that the Saints really struggled too and had to go through a lot to reach holiness, but somehow I just feel so weak and unable to be anything like them.

God bless
 
Yes, anyone can become a saint if they truely seek it. God made each of us to be saints, here on earth. God constantly pours out the graces we need to do this. He even gives us the flesh and blood of his beloved Son to help us do this. This is how far God will go to help us become saints in this life.

St Teresa of Avila is a good example of an adverage sinner, she was never really bad but she didn’t start out too well either.
 
I believe that anyone can, one just has to truly desire to become one - which is the most difficult thing in practice. While we may have the idealised desire to become a Saint, when it comes to the crunch often we choose our own desires over God’s will for us. Something I’m coming to see is that God doesn’t call everyone to be “famous” Saints. Many of us, I believe, are called to live quiet, Holy lives, doing good and converting souls in anonimity, within our local communities. Because such lives are quiet and humble, the world and the larger Church does not know of them, and therefore such people do not become canonised Saints. But this doesn’t mean that such lives aren’t saintly, Holy lives, leading to eternal life with God.
 
Dear Monica

I think anyone can become a Saint. Some are canonied to give examples but are are called to become Saints and can. If you are in grace you are a saint. If you amass a great deal of grace you can become a caonisable Saint. An easy approach is to just decide I’m going to be a Saint for today only. And do it. Then try to do it the next day, and on and on. If you fail just start again. Eventually you can reah the goal. Sins are just wounds we receive in the battle for sanctity. Get them attended to quickly and march on. We should not be surprised if we receive opposition from satan if we want to become saints. Few people want it and have little trouble with sin it often seems. The devil is not worried about them. He’s after the serious ones. Gloominess was narly a dealy sin. This needs elimination. It’s best to focus on the good and not obses about our sins at all. Becoming a Saint is a lifetime battle. And God can withdraw his grace and help at times to humble us or help us in other ways. Its best to just keep fighting and become a Saint by being a Saint one day at a time. And never give up.

Hope this helps.

God bless you and pray for me please:thumbsup:🙂

John
 
The Lord has purchased the grace for all people to reach their potential — to become saints!

Saints come from all walks of life - those in the religious life, those raising families, and those in the single life. He may require more from some than for others, but it is always His grace that enables us to be sanctified.
 
And, I should add, that some saints become officially recognized by the Church, we call them canonized saints.

And, there are many other saints that are not officially recognized, but they are saints (fully sanctified) nevertheless.
 
A “saint” is anyone who is in Heaven-in the Divine presence. Thus we have something like “the communion of Saints,” and, as we often hear, we are all “called to be Saints.” Now if you are talking about canonized saints, these are people who lived lives of such exemplary virtue and faith that after their death the Church has declared that they must certainly be in Heaven.

There is of course no guaranteed way to be a Saint…one can never presume such a thing. But give yourself completely to God. Ask him *every day *to give you a greater desire for holiness, and to make you grow in obedience and love. If you pray this sincerely you will be amazed at the results.
 
You can become a saint.

In fact, you must become a saint.

Everyone in Heaven is one.

Best do the work now, before it’s too late. 🙂

There’s no better work!

Inside, you must become who you should be, to be in Heaven. You must bear the cross.
 
The Church is not a museum of Saints, but a hospital for sinners!

First, admit you are sick. Then tell your doctor (the Priest in the Confessional) your symptoms and receive your prescription. Then take all your medicine (in the form of Sacraments and devotions).
 
Shin said:
You can become a saint.

In fact, you must become a saint.

Everyone in Heaven is one.

Best do the work now, before it’s too late. 🙂

There’s no better work!

Inside, you must become who you should be, to be in Heaven. You must bear the cross.
Click to expand...
Technically, if people don’t venerate you and you’re not the patron of anything, you’re not really a saint. You’re just a person who’s finally managed to escape Purgatory. 😛

If all the people in heaven are “saints” then I don’t see why we should have a screening process for saints in the first place. :\
 
Monica4316 said:
I hope this doesn’t sound silly…:o

I have many sins and I am far from perfect, but I really want to have a pure heart to love God and to learn humility and if it’s His will, to become a saint. Is this at all attainable for Catholics who still struggle with sin on a daily basis? It seems with the Saints, they were either very devout from childhood (St Gemma, St Therese), or were great sinners but then turned around and became very devout (St Augustine, St Mary Magdalene). But about people who were great sinners, then became Catholic, and then continued to sin? Can they still achieve holiness here on earth? It seems no matter how much I try, there’s still so much imperfection in me. I dont know how to overcome pride, or how to learn to love God completely, or how to be pure of heart.

hope this makes sense 🙂 I know that the Saints really struggled too and had to go through a lot to reach holiness, but somehow I just feel so weak and unable to be anything like them.

God bless
Click to expand...
I believe that we all can be saints because, with God, all things are possible. I pray daily that God will give me, my husband, and my son the grace to become saints. I pray to God to allow the circumstances to arise in my life to permit our sainthood. I know that I am weak and am unable to avoid attachment to certain sins. I just pray that God will eventually prompt me to overcome the attachment. I am still waiting and hopeful that He will finally give me this gift as I cannot do it without His help.

I will pray for you because I totally understand your struggle with wanting sainthood and feeling discouraged about achieving it.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
Technically, if people don’t venerate you and you’re not the patron of anything, you’re not really a saint. You’re just a person who’s finally managed to escape Purgatory. 😛

If all the people in heaven are “saints” then I don’t see why we should have a screening process for saints in the first place. :\
Click to expand...
Everyone in Heaven is a Saint. What you call a “screening process” and what the Church calls canonization, lets us know that a person is indeed in Heaven. Otherwise, we on earth would have no concrete way of knowing if a person is in Heaven (they could be in hell for all we would know).
 
JMJ_coder said:
Everyone in Heaven is a Saint. What you call a “screening process” and what the Church calls canonization, lets us know that a person is indeed in Heaven. Otherwise, we on earth would have no concrete way of knowing if a person is in Heaven (they could be in hell for all we would know).
Click to expand...
It’s just that the first thing that comes to mind when one says “saint” are those that have been canonized. Besides, if we were to apply the canonization process to the latest people who died and even those alive right now, do you really think even a majority combined would make it without at least going through Purgatory? Hate to break it to you, but I say nay. Not me, probably not you. Thus, how else shall we determine one is in heaven when there’s such a low rate of passing?

Or am I wrong to say that you don’t have to skip Purgatory to be a saint? 🤷
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
It’s just that the first thing that comes to mind when one says “saint” are those that have been canonized. Besides, if we were to apply the canonization process to the latest people who died and even those alive right now, do you really think even a majority combined would make it without at least going through Purgatory? Hate to break it to you, but I say nay. Not me, probably not you. Thus, how else shall we determine one is in heaven when there’s such a low rate of passing?

Or am I wrong to say that you don’t have to skip Purgatory to be a saint? 🤷
Click to expand...
Everyone in Purgatory goes to Heaven. And I am aware of not a single Church document that even remotely suggests that the canonized Saints couldn’t have gone to Purgatory first.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top