You're a saint, right?

Good News Reflection
Monday of the Second week of Christmas
January 4, 2010

Today's Memorial: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
Pray for the children.
The prayer from my book for this is not available online;
to order the book, please go to http://gnm.org/books.htm

Today's Readings:
1 John 3:7-10
Ps 98:1, 7-9
John 1:35-42
http://www.universalis.com/20100104/mass.htm

Today's Readings for the USA:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/010410.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_01_04.mp3

You're a saint, right?

Every day, we need to examine our consciences and honestly face the ways we have sinned. It needn't be difficult nor make us feel ashamed.

Catholic Mass provides us with the opportunity to do this during the Penance Rite. Daily Mass provides us with daily opportunities.

The Eucharist is Jesus himself coming to us with all of his love and redemption. He wants to heal our sin-infected souls. He also comes to us powerfully in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, offering to us a supernatural grace so that we can become stronger at resisting the sins we've confessed.

However, today's first reading tells us that no one who belongs to God commits sin. Because of our baptisms, we have "God's seed" within us and it remains in us unless we consciously and deliberately choose to reject God. Thus, John writes that we cannot sin because we are begotten by God.

So – are we sinners or not? Do we need to go to Confession or not? Well, are we perfectly holy already? I doubt there is anyone reading this who would claim to be a living Saint. And I know that I fall far short of that goal every day.

This scripture is describing the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil: "No one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who doesn't love."

Since we sometimes do fail to act holy or love unconditionally, does this mean that we're the devil's kids? Well, consider this: Do you do good because you want to imitate Jesus? Do you love others because Jesus loves you? Do you face difficult situations with a willingness to do what Jesus says is the right way to handle it? Even though fall short of your goal and sin? Then you are a child of God.

We who follow Christ are not Sinners (with a capital "S"); we're imperfect saints being led by him to heaven where we will someday become full-fledged capital "S" Saints. During our time of earthly sainthood, we strive to overcome the many ways in which we fail to live up to our true nature as children of God. After we die, we will gladly get purged (the state of purgatory) of all remaining impurities, and the harder we work at this purging now, the more saintly we become here on earth.

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus asks: "What are you looking for?" What are YOU looking for when you sin, i.e., when you fail to live up to the saintliness that God created within you? If you dig deep into your motives, you'll find that you're really looking for God but in the wrong place and in the wrong way.

Jesus says: "Come, and you will see." What do we see when we go to him during any temptation? Whatever we're looking for, we're seeking it because we think you don't have it yet (for example, peace, happiness, love, the filling of an emotional or financial need, etc.). But Jesus is everything we need.

The secret to successful saintliness is recognizing that by uniting ourselves to Jesus, we have all goodness, all love, and all our needs are met. Maybe not the way we want, but in him we lack nothing that really matters.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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