How often we wonder about that! And then we think of the great ones - St. Francis, St. Dominic
St. Ignatius, to mention a few. We hear that the Holy Father is getting ready to canonize
someone, that is, saying that by their life and example they are in heaven. And we wonder -
what does it take to become one of them?
Actually it is a very simple process. Live up to the wishes of God in our lives and give good
example and we also can be listed, although not publicly, as a saint. There are probably many
saints reading this along with you right now -- people that have tried to follow God's wishes in
their lives are living in sanctifying grace.
Many of the saints we will never know. The Church has a special day set aside for those
people who have died and gone to heaven without any fanfare or canonization. These are our
friends, our relatives, and even yes our enemies - people who have led good lives according to
their consciences and followed the law set down by God and His Church, or even pagans who
do not know anything about the Church but have lived good lives according to the inward voice
of a god whom they follow. That day is the Feast of All Saints and we just celebrated it this
month. Anyone who had died with sanctifying grace on his or her soul will go to heaven. Some
as we mentioned last month will spend time getting the dross cleansed from their souls in
Purgatory, but in the end, they will end in heaven. This is the Church Triumphant we should all
be involved with it after we die
As the Second Vatican Council says, we are all pilgrims. A pilgrim is s person who is wending
his/her way through something, hopefully having a happy end. When you look at our lives,
what else could we be called. We wend or ways through the world, trying to keep God's wishes
and end up in heaven - but we are pilgrims in t his world. Just like the early fathers of our
country, we too have our problems, our difficulties here on earth and we trust in God that He
will help us get to heaven. We are called the Church Militant, the Fighting Church since that is
how we are on earth, fighting our way to get to heaven.
So you see, if you are in the state of grace, a good militant soldier of Christ you can help the
people out who are the Church Suffering - those in purgatory - so they can get to heaven also.
In reward, they too will pray for us so we can get there.
All in all, when you say the Creed at Mass and say something about the Communion of Saints,
these three segments of mankind are the ones you are praying about and hoping to become
one of those in heaven: The Church militant on earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory and
the Church Triumphant in heaven. In the Creed we are talking about the present day saints
(hopefully you are included in them), those waiting to get into heaven as soon as we can pray
enough for them, and those are already seeing God face to face. What is a Saint - it is you as
long as you follow God's commandments
©2009 Fr. Louis Schlangen
St. Ignatius, to mention a few. We hear that the Holy Father is getting ready to canonize
someone, that is, saying that by their life and example they are in heaven. And we wonder -
what does it take to become one of them?
Actually it is a very simple process. Live up to the wishes of God in our lives and give good
example and we also can be listed, although not publicly, as a saint. There are probably many
saints reading this along with you right now -- people that have tried to follow God's wishes in
their lives are living in sanctifying grace.
Many of the saints we will never know. The Church has a special day set aside for those
people who have died and gone to heaven without any fanfare or canonization. These are our
friends, our relatives, and even yes our enemies - people who have led good lives according to
their consciences and followed the law set down by God and His Church, or even pagans who
do not know anything about the Church but have lived good lives according to the inward voice
of a god whom they follow. That day is the Feast of All Saints and we just celebrated it this
month. Anyone who had died with sanctifying grace on his or her soul will go to heaven. Some
as we mentioned last month will spend time getting the dross cleansed from their souls in
Purgatory, but in the end, they will end in heaven. This is the Church Triumphant we should all
be involved with it after we die
As the Second Vatican Council says, we are all pilgrims. A pilgrim is s person who is wending
his/her way through something, hopefully having a happy end. When you look at our lives,
what else could we be called. We wend or ways through the world, trying to keep God's wishes
and end up in heaven - but we are pilgrims in t his world. Just like the early fathers of our
country, we too have our problems, our difficulties here on earth and we trust in God that He
will help us get to heaven. We are called the Church Militant, the Fighting Church since that is
how we are on earth, fighting our way to get to heaven.
So you see, if you are in the state of grace, a good militant soldier of Christ you can help the
people out who are the Church Suffering - those in purgatory - so they can get to heaven also.
In reward, they too will pray for us so we can get there.
All in all, when you say the Creed at Mass and say something about the Communion of Saints,
these three segments of mankind are the ones you are praying about and hoping to become
one of those in heaven: The Church militant on earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory and
the Church Triumphant in heaven. In the Creed we are talking about the present day saints
(hopefully you are included in them), those waiting to get into heaven as soon as we can pray
enough for them, and those are already seeing God face to face. What is a Saint - it is you as
long as you follow God's commandments
©2009 Fr. Louis Schlangen