Pursuing Sanctity

[martinah]

I have trouble meditating on the Crucifixion, even though St Francis and Padre Pio recommend it. Maybe I am too imaginative, but it seems too horrible to me to contemplate and I avoid thinking about it at all if I can.

I have a real difficult time with the Sorrowful Mysteries myself. I have always found them difficult to get through. Next month I start on them, as part of my membership in a Living Rosary, and to be honest I am kind of dreading it. I am hoping that spending a month on each will give me adequate time with each one to gain a wiser understanding of them, beyond the human suffering depicted.

I agree that we should maintain this thread as an ongoing concern, and hopefully any resources that the wiser of those amongst us have, to help with this particular aspect of Catholic living, will be shared here.

I am enjoying reading all the posts so far! Great perspectives on Sainthood.

Take care and God Bless,
Martina

 

[Christine85]

Could be that “saints think they are sinners, and sinners think they are saints”.

Just a tiny thought.

Hahaha I like that. I started having the idea of wanting to be a Saint last year, I had a dream to be canonized - lol… But I got over that and simply hope I can just go straight to Heaven when I die.
Another thing with me is I get inspired by certain Saints -
St. Pio, St. Gemma, St. Therese, St. Teresa … Just to name a few, and I try and foster their qualities within myself

 

[InLight247]

Once my spiritual director said a saint was someone who has matured his friendship with Jesus. I like that definition very much. When we have matured our friendship with Jesus, we reach a similar level in loving God, loving people, and dealing with various incidents in life. Imitating Christ is certainly not easy. That’s why reaching holiness is a life time journey.

St. Therese the little flower is my favorite saint. Imitating her “little way” is not easy either. For example, when there was children screaming, people talking, cell phone ringing during Mass, my reflective response would be turning around to look. It takes practice to act like nothing was disturbing and it takes more practice to not even be bothered inside. It can be done with St. Therese’s model.

Serving in a ministry and dealing with difficult personalities definitely can train our sanctity. Apologize when it’s the other person’s fault, show appreciation when the other person exaggerated, twisted your intention, and caused you trouble, swallow the blame when you did nothing wrong…… all the difficult people could be taken as saint makers.

Having a holy spiritual director helps much. Due to his busy schedule I don’t see my SD often. But each time his insight, affirmation, and encouragement rekindle my zeal and motivate me to strive harder. He urges me to become a saint. A thousand journey starts with a single step. Although the road to sanctity is long, with God’s grace, the end can be eventually reached. We just have to put one step after another. That’s the little way to follow.

 

[OneDayASaint]

If you want to be a saint only one thing is necessary. Love Jesus. Jesus is the person standing next to you at the counter, Jesus is your spouse who needs an affectionate touch or encouragement, Jesus is your priest who is overworked and misunderstood, Jesus is the sinner who doesn’t know how to love himself or forgive himself, Jesus is the angry customer.

Let me tell you a story:

One day at work, where I am a hairdresser, a customer came in who had a chip on her shoulder. She was snide, mean and demanding. I did not want to take her for a client but it was obvious that I had time to do her hair by looking at my empty schedule lying open in front of her. So, I took a deep breath and prayed, “Jesus, I am going to pretend that this woman is you because I couldn’t deal with her otherwise.”

I took the woman over to the sink and started washing her hair. She was poking my ego trying to find an excuse to blow up at me (I could tell). I didn’t react to any of her comments or attitudes. I just smiled and rubbed her head gently while washing her hair. I thought to myself, “Oh, Jesus, you are being very difficult today.” I finished washing her hair and brought her to my chair. We discussed her hair and she was still poking at me aggressively. I just kept smiling and being gentle. I took my first snip of her hair and she started to sob. I immediately said, “Did I cut your hair to short?”

“No.” she sobbed some more. I said, “What’s wrong?” she said, “I have cancer and I only have a week to live.”

I embraced her and helped soothe her fears, all the while being so glad that I did not turn her away or react to her attitude and anger.

Jesus is always with us waiting to be loved. That day, I was Mary Magdalene anointing the head of my Lord.

That was a beautiful story - thank you so much for that! I needed to hear that. I work with the public like you do (hopefully just for another two years - in the middle of changing careers) and people are so difficult on so many levels sometimes.

I’ve read enough by saints and religious alike to try to tell myself “see Jesus in everyone you meet” but I need to indoctrinate myself with this further - I only remember to tell myself this once or twice a week and it doesn’t stick throughout the day when I do. Something about how you told your story really struck a chord with me and I’ll see how I do with it once I go back to work Monday.

Back to the OP.

Hopefully when people see my handle on here they’ll know it is my goal to be a saint. When they read any posts I make they’ll know I have a LOOOONG way to go! I have so many flaws and commit so many venial sins on a daily basis. And for those who do read my posts and see how far I have to go, let me be the first to say that’s not even the half of it! I look inward and see I’m far from being a decent Catholic much less a Catholic Saint. But I also am moved to a joyful sadness when I think of the grace I was given to desire to join the Church and the grace I was given to desire saintliness. Now I just need the graces to overcome my many and terrible flaws.

How does one get a spiritual director? I’ve been thinking about how I need one for the past few weeks. Is it always a priest at your parish or are there others in the parish to fill this role as well? I’d really like someone I could sit down with once a week or call sometimes because I have a lot of things faith wise to really talk out. Do I just call and ask for an appointment?

 

[InLight247]

How does one get a spiritual director? I’ve been thinking about how I need one for the past few weeks. Is it always a priest at your parish or are there others in the parish to fill this role as well? I’d really like someone I could sit down with once a week or call sometimes because I have a lot of things faith wise to really talk out. Do I just call and ask for an appointment?

The only way I know is to pray and ask God to provide one. I prayed for one, and during a conversation with a priest he, not I, brought up “spiritual direction”. After a while he had health problems so the spiritual direction was ended. I prayed again, then during a conversation with another priest, he offered to be my spiritual director. Both times the spiritual direction was initiated by the SD during a conversation. I can only thank God for his mercy and grace.

As for the time span, I don’t know if anyone would offer once a week talk. My first SD set up a forty five minutes session once every 6 weeks, my current SD used to give me an hour once a month. But ever since he moved far away, I can only see him about once every two to three months. But since I have to drive long distance, he gives me one and half an hour each time.

The purpose of spiritual direction is no less than making saints. To me, a holy priest is an ideal spiritual director since he can offer the sacrament of reconciliation.

 

[TiggerS]

How does one get a spiritual director? I’ve been thinking about how I need one for the past few weeks. Is it always a priest at your parish or are there others in the parish to fill this role as well? I’d really like someone I could sit down with once a week or call sometimes because I have a lot of things faith wise to really talk out. Do I just call and ask for an appointment?

My diocesan offices has a list of spiritual directors in the diocese. Another way is by contacting religious orders. Sometimes these undertake spiritual direction and very often if they don’t, they can give one a contact point where one may be able to find one. The Jesuit Order very often undertakes spiritual direction.

With our diocesan list of spiritual directors, one is sent a list of names and their title with telephone numbers. These directors are specifically trained in spiritual direction. One simply rings whoever one chooses. I dont know if all diocese do this.

 

[OneDayASaint]

The only way I know is to pray and ask God to provide one. I prayed for one, and during a conversation with a priest he, not I, brought up “spiritual direction”. After a while he had health problems so the spiritual direction was ended. I prayed again, then during a conversation with another priest, he offered to be my spiritual director. Both times the spiritual direction was initiated by the SD during a conversation. I can only thank God for his mercy and grace.

As for the time span, I don’t know if anyone would offer once a week talk. My first SD set up a forty five minutes session once every 6 weeks, my current SD used to give me an hour once a month. But ever since he moved far away, I can only see him about once every two to three months. But since I have to drive long distance, he gives me one and half an hour each time.

The purpose of spiritual direction is no less than making saints. To me, a holy priest is an ideal spiritual director since he can offer the sacrament of reconciliation.

Thank you. I will add that to my daily prayer. As far as once a week - I figured that’s how secular therapy sessions worked so spiritual direction would be the same, which is why I wondered how the few priests we have at my parish could possibly provide that for all of my fellow parishioners! Your answer made much more sense.

My diocesan offices has a list of spiritual directors in the diocese. Another way is by contacting religious orders. Sometimes these undertake spiritual direction and very often if they don’t, they can give one a contact point where one may be able to find one. The Jesuit Order very often undertakes spiritual direction.

With our diocesan list of spiritual directors, one is sent a list of names and their title with telephone numbers. These directors are specifically trained in spiritual direction. One simply rings whoever one chooses. I dont know if all diocese do this.

I will look into that as well. Before RCIA I would talk to the Director of Adult Faith Formation once a week after work and had so many things clarified for me. Put a couple years between then and now and my new knowledge has put more questions in me, but much more personal ones.

If nothing at my diocese then I will look into an order. I’ve already begun considering joining the Franciscans as a tertiary (I believe in that order it’s not tertiary, but secular Franciscan), so perhaps that won’t end up being so far in the future of my to do list.

 

[InLight247]

Thank you. I will add that to my daily prayer. As far as once a week - I figured that’s how secular therapy sessions worked so spiritual direction would be the same…

Yes, prayer should be the first thing we do. My diocese does not have a list of spiritual directors. There is no holy order close to where I live either. But even there are such resources available, prayer is still the first and most important thing to do. We need God’s providence to lead us to the right director.

Spiritual direction is different from secular therapy. It is usually the directee talks about what he or she wants to discuss and the director gives his insight and opinions. Discussions are usually focused on my prayer life, my relationship with God, as well as how I serve in the church ministry and anything else affects my walk with the Lord.

 

[TiggerS]

I will look into that as well. Before RCIA I would talk to the Director of Adult Faith Formation once a week after work and had so many things clarified for me. Put a couple years between then and now and my new knowledge has put more questions in me, but much more personal ones.

If nothing at my diocese then I will look into an order. I’ve already begun considering joining the Franciscans as a tertiary (I believe in that order it’s not tertiary, but secular Franciscan), so perhaps that won’t end up being so far in the future of my to do list.

I think if you joined a Franciscan tertiary or secular Franciscan community they might have contact points for a spiritual director.
Once you have located a director, it might be a good move to write down your questions or subjects you would like to raise and why. I sometimes do this with my director and post out a copy in advance highlighting the most important points I would like to cover. Even if time does not allow a full covering of all issues raised, they can be covered at a subsequent appointment.
Usually, the first couple of appointments are to discern if you can work together. My director and I did this initially, basically just sharing our expectations of spiritual direction and of each other. Quite ok to state right from the start that one is new to spiritual direction.

 

[louisak]

If you find some time, could you post them here? I think this thread will be a wonderful resource to come back to again and again for continuing inspiration.

I will if I can make the time for it. Meanwhile you can read some of our Lord’s words to Sister Consolata on this page. And a number of wonderful quotes from He and I - the book in which Gabrielle Bossis recorded our Lord’s words to her - are on this page.

 

[louisak]

If you find some time, could you post them here? I think this thread will be a wonderful resource to come back to again and again for continuing inspiration.

Here is a truly wonderful quote from the messages of our Lord to Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity (taken from this page):

“People have a false idea of Me. They take Me for a master who distributes his favors at his caprice and who enforces His will. Do you understand that I enforce nothing? I am powerless before your liberty. It is I who beg for your love. Look at Me gasping for breath upon the Cross; behold My royalty! I have expiated your sins, but I do not even force you to believe it. I show you My Passion -does it speak to you? -and I wait. Behold My Divinity; -an indefatigable patience. Throughout the centuries I await souls. I never refuse them. Ask to know Me better.”

Some of these messages are collected in the book Words of Love: Revelations of Our Lord to Three Victim Souls in the Twentieth Century published by TAN publishers.

 

[PursueSanctity]

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I wanted to thank all the people who responded to this thread. I came to the realization that you can’t pursue sanctity in public. It’s like trying to dry yourself off standing in a swimming pool. So I need to be someplace not a forum.

My Christmas wish is for God’s blessings to descend on everyone here.

Peace be with you, Grace come upon you, Light shine within you.