Called to Be Nothing Less than Saints

I love homilies that ignite a fire in my spiritual life. Just recently, my pastor delivered a message that stirred me enough to recall his words over and over again. The simple but profound take home point is this, “We are called to be nothing less than Saints.” 

After he said that, I think time stopped just for me. I was stuck a tunnel of “oh my goodness” as the weight of those words really sunk in. On one hand, I've always known that our goal is to know, love, and serve God and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven, yet for some reason the whole “nothing less” part really stopped me in my mental tracks. 

Of course we want to get to Heaven as God the Father desires for us from all eternity. However, He wants more for us then just to make it to Heaven – to cross the finish line just barely if you know what I mean. I picture a runner, somewhat like myself, who finishes a race, wipes the brow of their forehead and says, “Phew, I made it.” A sort of, wow that was close kind of moment. That's NOT what God wants for us. Don't get me wrong, an entrance into Heaven is an entrance into Heaven, but why procrastinate, why put off getting closer to Heaven now? 

We're daughters, wives, moms, friends, and in all those roles God is calling us to become the Saint He intends us to become. More often than not, the Saints we read about lived ordinary lives just like us, but always in an extraordinary way. That's what our focus needs to be. God doesn't expect us all to convert entire nations, fight in wars, or travel thousands of miles preaching His Gospel. We need to be Saints in the making right where we are – in our marriages, our families, our Churches, our communities. 

The endless loads of laundry, sleepless nights, pots and pots of homemade soup, hours driving kids around to activities, late night talks with angst ridden teenagers – these are the moments where we become nothing less than the Saints we are called to be for God's Kingdom.