How do I become a Saint?

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Conster74

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Well apart from the obvious of I have to die and be canonized… 😛

How does one get to be a saint of God? I’ve got the desire – but I wholeheartedly say I’m not there yet! I keep falling into sin. I’m so not perfect. It isn’t just a matter of people thinking I’m good. I really want to be good - to be holy even as God is holy.

Thoughts?
 
You’ve made the first step. If you really want to be a Saint then do what Saints do. But start off slowly. I am not a Saint, but I know a bit. So don’t take me wrong.
The devil will use your desire against you. He will try to get you to do great penances, pray for hours. And you will fall in a heap. So you should try to find an orthodox and very holy priest to be your spiritual director. This will frustrate the enemies efforts to throw you off course.
And note: If you are in the state of grace you are a saint and very holy already.
Saints are just ordinary people who do things extraordinarily well.
Try studying some of the works on the link below. This Saint taught modern man how to become a Saint in the middle of the world. Whilst working in the factory, office etc. Being with family or friends etc. Brilliant stuff.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
escrivaworks.org/
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Conster74:
Well apart from the obvious of I have to die and be canonized… 😛

How does one get to be a saint of God? I’ve got the desire – but I wholeheartedly say I’m not there yet! I keep falling into sin. I’m so not perfect. It isn’t just a matter of people thinking I’m good. I really want to be good - to be holy even as God is holy.

Thoughts?
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Conster74:
Well apart from the obvious of I have to die and be canonized… 😛

How does one get to be a saint of God? I’ve got the desire – but I wholeheartedly say I’m not there yet! I keep falling into sin. I’m so not perfect. It isn’t just a matter of people thinking I’m good. I really want to be good - to be holy even as God is holy.

Thoughts?
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I think, for the most part, the saints did not set out to become saints.

The thing we should strive for is the live like the saints. That is to have the humility (pride is the downfall of many) and desire to serve God. A very good starting point is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew (chapers 5 - 7). It serves as a roadmap for how to live our lives.

In her biography A Story of a Soul, St Thérèse is told by her superior “You are a very simple soul, and the closer you get to God, the simpler you will become,”. I think many of us make it too complicated when it comes to God. Jesus says:
“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
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I think the childlike simplicy that St Thérèse displayed is something that has been lost.

Yes, there have been saints that were intellectual giants (like St Thomas Aquinas), but, for the mostpart, it was a childlike faith and trust in God that got most of them to ainthood.

PF
 
If you want to be credited with a miracle, come over my house and see if you can get my daughter to stop whining for a puppy. 😛

hah!
 
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SueG:
If you want to be credited with a miracle, come over my house and see if you can get my daughter to stop whining for a puppy. 😛

hah!
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i think you’re just going to have to get her the puppy, no miracle can cure puppy love. 😛

i would look at therese of lisieux, as someone previously mentioned. here are two passages from her Story of a Soul:
I’ve always wished that I could be a saint. But whenever I compared myself to the Saints there was always this unfortunate difference - they were like great mountains, hiding their heads in the clouds, and I was only an insignificant grain of sand, trodden down by all who passed by. However, I wasn’t going to be discouraged; I said to myself: “God wouldn’t inspire us with ambitions that can’t be realized. Obviously there’s nothing great to be made of me, so it must be possible for me to aspire to sanctity in spite of my insignificance. I’ve got to take myself just as I am, with all my imperfections; but somehow I shall have to find out a little way, all of my own, which will be a direct short-cut to heaven. Can’t I find an elevator which will take me up to Jesus, since I’m not big enough to climb the steep stairway of perfection?” So I looked in the Bible for some hint about the life I wanted, and I came across the passage where Eternal Wisdom says: “Whosoever is a little one let him come to Me.” To that Wisdom I went; it seemed as if I was on the right track; what did God undertake to do for the child-like soul that responded to His invitation? I read on, and this is what I found: I will console you like a mother caressing her son; you shall be like children carried at the breast, fondled on a mother’s lap. I could after all, be lifted up to heaven, in the arms of Jesus! And if that was to happen, there was no need for me to grow bigger, on the contrary, I must be as small as ever, smaller than ever.
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Jesus set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers he has created are lovely. The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wildflowers to make the meadows gay.
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It is just the same in the world of souls - which is the garden of Jesus. He has created the great saints who are like the lilies and the roses, but he has also created much lesser saints and they must be content to be the daisies or the violets which rejoice his eyes whenever he glances down. Perfection consists in doing his will, in being that which he wants us to be.
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Every person must become a Saint if he or she wants to go to heaven! That is what a Saint is, a person who is in the beatific vision. The canonized Saints are people who the Church has declared are in heaven, as evidenced through miracles coming about through their intercession. So, God willing, we will all be Saints. Then, St. Paul refers to believers on earth as saints, so right now we are of the little “s” variety and God willing we will one day be of the big “S” variety.Yours,
Jessica
 
read the advice of Jesus to the rich young man, and follow it. Read the Little Way of St. Therese and follow it. Read the bible, learn Catholic moral teaching and follow it.
 
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puzzleannie:
read the advice of Jesus to the rich young man, and follow it. Read the Little Way of St. Therese and follow it. Read the bible, learn Catholic moral teaching and follow it.
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I think the perfect example of someone who followed Christs advice to the rich man is St. Francis of Assissi. I think he is one of the most inspiring saints.
 
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Conster74:
Well apart from the obvious of I have to die and be canonized… 😛

How does one get to be a saint of God? I’ve got the desire – but I wholeheartedly say I’m not there yet! I keep falling into sin. I’m so not perfect. It isn’t just a matter of people thinking I’m good. I really want to be good - to be holy even as God is holy.

Thoughts?
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Hi Conster, There is not one that can be called good except our Father in heaven.Just try to strive for perfection in Christ. Being good doesnt get you into heaven.Its only through Christ.We here on earth are the living saints and we will be saints when we enter into heaven. 😉 God Bless
 
Give your will completely over to God. When his will becomes yours you will become one with God.

I agree that pride is the major stumbling block. I struggle with it every day.
 
Dear friend

I agree with you Spokenword (hi to you and your wife, hope you are both very well 🙂 ). We are all to be saints and are presently little saints living in His Kingdom on earth which is the Body of Christ, the Catholic Church. When we die, if we die in His grace, we die and become Saints with a capital ‘S’.

All of the great Saints had their imperfections, they are indeed sinners and had shortcomings, but what they did despite their shortcomings and sins was to keep going, to persevere and to strive daily to live in union with God’s will.

Jesus tells the truth there is no lie in any of His words, in His words He tells you how to become a Saint, so follow His words which the deposit of faith is held in the Catholic church…pay attention to this bit especially…Love the Lord your God with all your mind and all your heart and all your soul and love your neighbour as yourself…do that and you won’t go wrong, you will be a Saint! If you follow that all of the rest falls into place…

You will sin, but keep seeking His mercy and absolution in the Sacrament of healing which is Reconciliation and dear friend, you will die a Saint, if you desire what God desires for you, this is what will happen.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
Someone said they don’t think Saints strove to become Saints deliberately. Well I beg to differ,

To be an Olympian you must make tremendous sacrifices. To win gold you must be heroic in your self denial, break the pain barrier and put your whole heart and soul into the endeavour.
Saints do the same thing with the spiritual life. The hard part is that we don’t win the praise and acclaimation of our fellow man when we do this, as do the olympians.
Sanctity is for all. It’s meant to be normal.
The document in Vatican II " The universal call to holiness". Was written by the Saint I have recommended. St Josemaria. Try and read it some time.
Many Saints wanted to be our Lords, our Lady’s favourites etc. Thios happenned to me 16 yrs ago. I knew next to zip about the faith and was given a book about Fatima. I was so inspired by it all, that I begged our Lady ( whom I didn’t know very well) to help me. I desperately wanted to be her favourite, Unfortunately I have been a horrible failure. But I am still trying. I still want to be her favourite. So prayers are requested.
Jesus is the model. But the Saints are easier to imitate, because they had struggles and imperfections like us.
Study the Saints who didn’t have stigmata, bilocate etc as these gifts are for the very few. And you will most likely be disappointed if you can’t do what they did.
St Josemaria was the Saint for the ordinary man or woman.
The Way, Furrow and Forge are points for meditation. Try the other books and see what you think.
Another point is that the enemy will make you worry that you are becoming too holy. Pay no attention to him if this happens.
If you really want to be a Saint, struggle and persevere. You might not achieve it until your an old man. But what does it matter how long it takes. I wish you bon voyage on your journey.
 
Another concern you may face. Is your ability to do more. God will provide the grace etc so that the more you do, the more you will be able to do. " He who is faithful in little, shall be faithful in much".
God will make up for anything you lack. Look at little Mother Teresa and how she roamed the Earth like a giant. She was an instrument of God. She was filled with supernatural energy.
 
Blessed Solanus Casey is my mother’s maternal uncle, and his story and cause have been part of my family’s life for as long as I’ve been around. He was ordained but not given the faculties to preach or hear confessions, and one of the conditions of his ordination was that he promise never to ask for them. I’ve known this part of the story all my life.

However, I only learned the rest of this within the last year from a radio broadcast by Fr. Benedict Groschel.

There was another man ordained with him on the same conditions. After ordination, that priest immediately applied to Rome and was granted these faculties.

Many years later, when Father Solanus died, it was discovered in his files that, when the Vatican sent the papers granting the other priest’s faculties, they had also sent those granting them to Fr. Solanus. However, because he never asked for them, they were never given to him.

Fr. Solanus was granted many miracles both before and after his death. Humility was one of his greatest characteristics. He is probably one of the holiest American Catholics of the 20th century, and yet, he humbly accepted the Church’s restrictions upon him. This is the kind of behavior that makes saints.

I only wish I could be more like him.
 
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Conster74:
Well apart from the obvious of I have to die and be canonized… 😛

How does one get to be a saint of God? I’ve got the desire – but I wholeheartedly say I’m not there yet! I keep falling into sin. I’m so not perfect. It isn’t just a matter of people thinking I’m good. I really want to be good - to be holy even as God is holy.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Being canonized after you die is how the Church declares that you are a saint, not how you become a saint.
you become a saint by following Jesus’ commands, saints are those who love God, and He said, “if you love Me you will keep My commandments.”
 
Hi Conster I once saw a book in a library called “How to become a saint.” I’m not kidding. I looked on Amazon and couldn’t find it so it must have been an older book or from a smaller publisher.
 
Be like a little child. Raise your arms and your Father will pick you up, hugging you close to His heart.
 
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padraig:
Be like a little child. Raise your arms and your Father will pick you up, hugging you close to His heart.
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You must be a fan of St. Therese of Lisieux…that sounds like something she would say!
Honestly, we are all called to be saints.A saint of God is someone that is in Heaven. If He calls us to lead a holy life (which he does) and for that same holy life to be recognized by the church, then we are cannonized saints. There are probably loads of documents that detail how the church recognizes saints, so I reccomend doing a google search on it.
“Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” -Jesus
God Bless,

Justin
 
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