My life is far too easy for me to become a saint…
Last year the season of Advent was very short.
Instead of a good solid four week lead up to Christmas, it was barely a little more than three weeks of Advent. And this meant that Christmas Eve (which was on a Sunday last year) was also the final week of Advent.
During Advent I attended Sunday Mass at a number of different churches, and I heard a number of different priests speak about the importance of attending Mass on BOTH the final Sunday of Advent AND the Christmas Mass…
And I heard about the reason that we had to attend both Masses. I heard the priests justify and explain and simplify and calculate. I heard the reasons relating to the preparation for the coming of Christ. And I listened to the reasons and I knew that I would attend both Masses, but it was really not until the final Sunday of Advent during Saturday night Mass (on the day before Christmas Eve) that I really understood the reason why…
You see, one of the priests in my local parish explained it very simply. He said that we must attend both Masses even though it was inconvenient and difficult because we are Catholic. And Catholics are not called to live an easy life. We are called to live a difficult one. We are not called – as Children of God – to make easy choices. We are called – as God’s Children – to make choices that are of the next world and NOT this one…
And I have been thinking about that today, because it seems so refreshing to me that I should be able to make decisions and choices that are NOT easy. It seems so refreshing to me that my choices are knowingly difficult. And that is okay with me too.
You see, every Saint who ever lived made difficult choices. Their lives were not easy in any way. Every Saint who ever lived made choices that challenged the decisions of the world.
The Blessed Virgin did not make easy choices. An easy choice would have been to have a physical relationship with Holy Saint Joseph. That would have been an easy choice for him too. But that was not the choice they made. Saint Therese of Lisieux did not make easy choices. An easy choice for her would have been to complain of every illness, every ache and pain and every trauma of her short life. Instead, her choices were difficult – she willingly subjected herself to additional sacrifices in her “Little Way” for love of God. And the list of Saints who willingly chose things that were NOT easy is as numerous as the stars in the sky.
And I have been thinking about that as I have been thinking about attending Mass on Saturday night and also on Christmas Eve the next day, because it seems to me that my life is far too easy for me to become a saint… Far too easy indeed…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.