Today (October 1st) is the feast day of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux who declared "I want to be a saint". With these words she gives us a hint to answer our opening question. Unless you want to be holy, you will not be holy. Unless you want to please God, you will not please God. To be a saint, you must will it.
Being a saint isn't as complicated as one may think, for all who are in the Lord Jesus Christ are saints ("holy ones"). The Apostle Paul often addressed the Christians in his letters as saints. These were baptized men and women who expressed faith in Christ and lived it out in love. If that describes you, then you qualify as a saint! You may not be a capital-S canonized Saint proclaimed by the Church, but you are a saint, nonetheless.
As Thérèse discovered, wanting to be a saint begins in the soul allowing the love of God to penetrate our hearts, turning from a disordered love of self to the love of God and neighbor. As Saint Thérèse described,
On the day of my conversion Charity entered into my heart and with it a yearning to forget self always; thenceforward I was happy.Subsequently, she decided that her way to heaven was in becoming little.
I applied myself above all to practice quite hidden little acts of virtue; thus I liked to fold the mantles forgotten by the Sisters, and sought a thousand opportunities of rendering them service.
Though simple, we know that remaining a saint isn't always easy. Being holy is an ongoing process and requires a daily surrender of our will to God. The good news is that God is always ready to give us the grace we need to be and remain holy - through faith, prayer, the Sacraments, and through one another as the Church.
If you haven't done so already, begin today by declaring out loud, "I want to be a saint!" and join Saint Thérèse in her "little way" through faith and action.
