Mar 22 Sat
Were the saints “special” people?
Some books about saints sometimes overlook the weaknesses of the central characters. Their biographers probably feared that we, readers, would be shocked to see them as normal men and women like us.
And precisely those of us who are not yet as close to our Father God as they are, need to realize - because it will help us greatly - that those who are on the altars were not made of wax or plastic, but, like all mortals, of flesh and blood, suffered pain, and had their burdens. They were ordinary people who had to take pills, slept badly, or needed to be shaken, from time to time, to avoid falling asleep in prayer.
Certain books have put the saints so far away from us that all we can do is admire them. And sometimes not even that. For about one, we are told that he never looked at the ceiling of his cell, out of mortification; of another, that he did not dare to look at his mother to better keep his chastity. And we conclude that the first had the ceiling full of cobwebs, and the second, was full of complexes. And we are friends of cleanliness, and of kissing our mother with affection.
There is no way to imitate these saints. If they are described as walking, they never stop; if climbing, they never get tired; if working, they never rest; if praying, they never get distracted. And we who often break off and sometimes sink! We, who get often distracted and feel the weight of fatigue! And we who stumble in so many things..., and have to say every day: “Forgive us our trespasses"! Will it be that holiness is not for us?
And yet "Let us not deceive ourselves: in our life, if we find courage in ourselves and victories, we must also find weakness and defeats. This has always been the Christian's earthly pilgrimage, including the saints. True biographies of Christian heroes are like our lives: they fought and won, fought and lost. And then, contrite, they returned to the fight".
So... what can we do? Ask for forgiveness, confess, rectify the intention, discard discouragements, and return to the fray. We are never shocked at the bad weeds that grow in our fields, nor fail to pull them up.
We all can and should be saints. We all have to try to achieve this goal. We have the means granted to us by Heaven. Let us struggle to achieve it!
In the lives of the saints, there are supernatural events, clear interventions of God, especially when He makes them do great things on earth with few or no human means.
But, in any case, men attain holiness not just by these actions, which are of the Lord, but also by their generosity in responding to the grace that He gives us to reach the goal.
He who fights to achieve it and helps others to go on...; he who does not hinder the action of God in his soul and tries to fulfill always and in everything the will of the Lord..., that is the real saint!
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