Is it wrong to WANT to be a Saint?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ridesawhitehors
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

ridesawhitehors

Guest
In a different thread I mentioned how I was hoping to become a saint someday for the purpose of helping certain groups to reach heaven.
A person responded and said that WANTING to become a saint is “self serving”… and that one shouldn’t *aspire *to become a saint, it should just happen. Like, if you WANT to become one - it is a sign that you are somehow misdirected.

That sort of stunned me. It seemed like as soon as you say you want to become holy that someone is there to shoot you down as if I am only looking for status. And that it shouldn’t be a goal… it is just sort of a holy lottery.

What do you think? Is it wrong to WANT to be a saint? To have that as your goal? If you think so - tell me why, because I disagree. 😃
 
Wanting to become a saint is just what we need. We need more people who are saintly in order to properly convey the message of Christ. Someone who says “Live Christ-like” is less effective than someone who lives Christ-like.

I think this should be every persons goal. What kind of world would we be living in if it was filled with saints? Utopia. It would almost be heaven; the only thing lacking would be the beatific vision (Not God since He’s in the tabernacles of the world).

Could you imagine what another Mother Theresa or John Paul II would do for our world? Imagine that ten times, then ten times that, then ten times that. It’s almost unimaginable. It would be incredible!

Dr. Peter Kreeft often exhorts the people listening to him to want to become a saint. I cannot see any reason why someone wouldn’t want to. If you are shooting to become holy for God, you’ll make it; if you are shooting to become holy for status, you’ll never make it. There simply isn’t a reason why someone wouldn’t wish to become a saint, unless they didn’t want to become holy (Which, unfortunately, is the main reason all of us aren’t saints).

The saints are saints because they willed it and God gave them the grace to do it.
 
Wanting to be a saint merely means wanting to go to heaven. There’s no problem with that!

Are you talking about being declared a saint? Now, if you want to be declared a saint by the Church so that you could be famous, that might be a problem. But if you truly want to help people through prayer and by your example of assenting to the will of God, then I think you’re okay.

St. Therese wanted to be a saint and had a desire to be a martyer as well. Seems that the holy desire worked out just fine for her.

God bless.
 
You had better want to be a Saint because the alternative to becoming a Saint is to end up in hell. To want to be declared a Saint seems even better because than you would be striving to live a life so well as to be an exampler to all those who know you.
Being overly pietistic however seems to turn others, when they observe your life, away from rather than towards God , so you do want to strive to lead a life with a balanced practice of all the virtues especially Charity. I hope to be a Saint someday, but to be declared so?
 
It is WRONG not to want to be a saint.

We are all called to strive for holiness (sainthood). If you be do not want to be a saint, you want to sin in some area of your life. Wanting to sin is not good for you and often leads into worse and worse sins and a lack of concern to get straight with God.

I myself am aiming for Heaven and pity those who choose to aim for Hell (by choosing to want to sin.).
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

Is this a trick question? 😉

I think a lot has to do with what it is about sainthood we wish for. If it is to be admired or to feel glorified I would say we have a problem. But most saints are probably unknown to us, everyone in heaven is a saint by definition, none of them were perfect in life and yet admitted by God into His presence.

We are called to be holy, we are to charged to be perfect, we are encouraged to be as innocent as little children, we are told to take up our cross and we are informed that the last shall be first. We are already a pretty mixed up and confused bunch so all we can do is try our very best and hope in the mercy and love of God.

And we should realize that if we attain sainthood, or rather be welcomed into the very presence of God it is probable that no one back here in earthly life will actually know it until they get the same chance to pass on. With the Apostle let’s pray that we have not run the race in vain!
 
We are all called to holiness. Many Saints have ledt writings that expressed their desire to be one with Christ.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if every Catholic and non-C Christian took seriously their Baptism vocation to be saints and witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world?
 
The diary of St. Faustina confesses that she desired to be the greatest of Christ’s saints.
 
HALLELUJAH, and what a wonderful world this would be, if everyone’s goal was to become a saint!! 🙂
 
My 13 year old son informed me that he wanted to do good in the world and help others. He then went on to tell me how he wants to be a Saint and be nicknamed the Laughing Saint Christopher, because he wants to make others happy and joyful. He was very serious, so I told him to pray about it. I thought that was sweet.
 
The Catholic novelist Leon Bloy wrote, “The only tragedy is not to have become a Saint.”
 
We all want to go to Heaven

We all want to be holy

Therefore we all want to be SAINTS 😃
 
It has long been reported that Saint Teresa of Lisoux worked on being a saint.It is also reported that Saint Theresa of Avila hated being a living saint , as she was. She was often observed argueing with God about it.
 
No it is not wrong to want to be a Saint, infact it is very good to want to be a Saint.

Carry on wanting to be a Saint and I’ll pray you achieve it!
 
So far it’s an overwhelming majority saying it would be wrong to not want to become a saint. I wonder where this idea of it being wrong to become a saint came from?
 
Well I certainly hope its good with God cause that is my great desire in life.
 
40.png
ridesawhitehors:
In a different thread I mentioned how I was hoping to become a saint someday for the purpose of helping certain groups to reach heaven.
A person responded and said that WANTING to become a saint is “self serving”… and that one shouldn’t *aspire *to become a saint, it should just happen. Like, if you WANT to become one - it is a sign that you are somehow misdirected.

That sort of stunned me. It seemed like as soon as you say you want to become holy that someone is there to shoot you down as if I am only looking for status. And that it shouldn’t be a goal… it is just sort of a holy lottery.

What do you think? Is it wrong to WANT to be a saint? To have that as your goal? If you think so - tell me why, because I disagree. 😃
Click to expand...
It depends on what you mean when you say you want to be a saint. I am sure that you simply mean that you want to be with God in heaven. That is perfectly acceptable. But there is another reason why someone might want to be a saint. They hope that they will recieve glory for being holy. This is vainglory and is one of the eight deadly sins according to the eastern fathers. It is desiring praise for everything you do.
 
i was reading a bookin which a saint said in his book the wayof salvation that the thought of desiring to become a saint is a good and holy one, and the thought of it as self centered was something the devil does to trick us and unfocus are intentions.he

so its a great thing to think of being a saint and wanting to be one.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top