All Saints Day

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Many people don’t believe that they’re capable of becoming saints. They believe that a few select people were chosen for greatness and the rest of us will always fall short of sanctity. In reality, we were all meant to live like saints. But how can we even start?

Step One: Pursue the good things in life and delight in them.

a.  Sleep,

b.  Drink coffee and spend time in deep friendship with God in daily mediation

c.   Cook and eat real food that is good for you

d.  Exercise

e.  Work to make a good contribution for the world and others

o   In your profession, raising and educating kids to be excellent humans for the world, as a student – whatever your work is – make some good contribution to the world!

f.    Develop deep friendships, spend time with those people regularly, delight in them and help one another to a deep friendship with Jesus

g.  Grow in the knowledge and truth of the world around you, especially about God, yourself and his plan for you

h.  Experience beauty in all its forms – nature, art, music, literature

Above all else, the Saints are the happiest people because they take delight in the good things and God gives them better things. So slow down and delight in all these good things because God made you for delight and not for sorrow. This is the first step to become a saint. 

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The Second Step to become a saint is to pursue the good things in life in a way that you think would make God happy.

Turn to your Father in Heaven and ask Him: “Father, what would make you happy?”

What time would you like me to go to bed and arise in the morning? How much time would you like to spend with me in prayer? Would eating and drinking this or that make you happy? What work can I do today to please you, Father? What knowledge would you like me to pursue? What forms of beauty would you like me to delight in? How do you want me to take care of the temple of my body that you gave me by exercise?

Now we don’t always start out wanting or liking what we probably know would make God happy. But we can learn to like what makes God happy.

Think about the pleasant results of what makes God happy and think about the unpleasant consequences of what does not.

Then find the overlap between what makes you happy and what makes God happy and pursue that in every moment.

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Step Three – don’t pursue the good things in life in the wrong way

What is the wrong way? Pursuing good things in a way that leads you away from God, for instance, pursuing one good as your identity, self-worth or ultimate happiness.

●      Our professions are good but our identity or self-worth are not founded on professional achievements.

●      Likewise, children are very good – but we can’t find our identity in them.

●      God made you in his image and by union with Jesus you have become a son or daughter of God – That is your identity and value.

You also shouldn’t pursue one good to the neglect of other goods.

●      It’s good to work but not to the neglect of your relationship with God, family, friends, or health.

Don’t pursue goods in a disordered way

●      Don’t get derailed with the rabbit whole of curiosity where we seek knowledge or information we have no business looking into

o   Example on YouTube

●      Don’t pursue immoral sexual behavior or pornography

●      Don’t give into gossip

●      Don’t try to entertain yourself or escape through entertainment that is violent…

Avoid entertaining yourself with things that are wrong. Immoral entertainment becomes subject to the law of diminishing returns. Things have to get more and more wrong to give you the same amount of stimulation and keep your interest. You need more gossip, more lust, more anger, more and more violence and it spirals down and down. Hell is endlessly trying to escape boredom by inventing more and more twisted pleasures. You never escape the boredom, things only get worse and worse as you spiral into the pit of despair.

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Step Four – Accept the loss of some good things because God wants to give you better things

God wants us to delight in the good things of this world – but not become attached to them – not desire them more than Him – because he is the Absolute Supreme Good we need to be happy forever.

The Saints learned to love the lesser things less and the Greatest thing more. The Saints had correctly ordered love.

This gets to the reason of why God allows the loss of good things. Because he wants to give us the better things: Himself and everything along with it.

We experience the loss of good things as a consequence of free will, original sin and the loss of harmony in the world, our own bad choices and those of others. But whatever the reason – if we experience the diminishment or loss of some good thing – health, a relationship, a loved one, a profession…God allows it for two reasons:

First, He wants to save us from becoming so attached to these good things that we prefer them to Him, making us fail to desire and receive Him, and cutting us off from our ultimate happiness in Him.

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The second reason God allows the loss of good things is to give us even better things and more delightful things to do.

Rarely do I meet people, good Catholics even, who say – “Wow, God is so good and life is so good. I am just so grateful.”

More often they express some overwhelm in their life because they live in fear of loss. They say, “What if God takes this or that away?” and, “Oh, have you seen the news?”

These people are not living in reality. God only allows the loss of some good thing so that He can make room in your soul to give you more of himself.

And he gives us more delightful and important work to do – like helping souls to heaven.

If God allows you to experience some loss – then I can guarantee you He’s trying to flood you with Himself – if you let him. But first you must accept the loss.

He wants to make you His coworker to save souls by accepting and offering up this loss or suffering.

Then in heaven God will give you the most important work of helping your children and grandchildren and all of their children’s children.

The Saints are the happiest people because they take delight in the good things and then God gives them better things.

So, Dear Lord, help me delight in the true goodness and the goodness that you are and the goodness that you do and help me delight in it forever!