Called to be Saints

One of the richest blessings and greatest helps to growth in the spiritual life is holy friends. You see this all the time in the lives of the saints. Francis of Assisi and Dominic; John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila; John Paul II and Mother Teresa; Francis Xavier and Ignatius of Loyola; Basil and Gregory; Benedict and Scholastica. Name a saint, and there’s a good chance that there’s at least one other saint they had as a close friend. The value of holy friendships cannot be overstated. We tend to become like the people we spend time with. And when we spend time with holy people, we tend to become holy as well. This is why the saints stress the importance of choosing your friends wisely. I learned from a holy friend the phrase “becoming friends with the saints and becoming saints with friends”. This is a good motto to live by. When we focus on cultivating a love and devotion for the saints while simultaneously surrounding ourselves with saintly friends, we will find ourselves more rapidly growing in our relationship with God and a love for His Church.

At face value, it might sound strange to talk about becoming friends with the saints. By definition, a saint is someone who has died and is now with the Lord in heaven. If someone is dead, how can we have a friendship with them? Though a saint is no longer living their earthly life, they are very much alive in heaven. They are completely purified of all their sins and imperfections, and now from their place in heaven, they eagerly desire us to join them. The intercession of the saints is powerful. They are capable of unceasingly bringing our requests to God, and God delights in allowing the saints to be co-workers with Him in helping more people strive for holiness and eternal life. One of the best ways to grow in friendship with the saints is to read about their lives. The Church holds the saints up as models for a reason. Simply by reading about their lives, we can be moved and inspired to imitate them in their lives of holiness. When people ask me who my favorite saint is, my response has sometimes been “it depends on who I’m reading about right now”. When I read about Pier Giorgio Frassati, I’m inspired by his love and service of the poor. When I read about St. Thomas Aquinas, I’m inspired by his depth of knowledge and his profoundly deep life of prayer. Lately, I’ve been drawn to Pope John Paul II. As I read his life it’s almost like a desire for profound holiness and deep prayer radiates off the pages. It makes me wish I could’ve met him, and I think to myself “this is the kind of priest I want to be”.

And the reality is, I’m being drawn into a friendship with him.

I often ask for his prayers for me, and I’ve entrusted my priesthood and shepherding of these parishes to his intercession. It’s hard to explain, but ‘friendship’ is the right word to use to describe the way relate to him. And it’s not a oneway street. Pope John Paul II is at work in my life to help me become a better priest.

When it comes to becoming saints with friends, we’re reminded that this is one of the greatest joys in life—to walk shoulder-to-shoulder in faith as we grow in relationship with God through holy friendship. I think of my days as a cross-country runner.

There were times when I got tired and didn’t feel like keeping the pace, but I wanted to keep up with my friends, so I kept going anyway. I became a better runner by sticking with my friends. It’s not an easy task to be a follower of Christ in our day and age. If we’re going to stay on the straight and narrow, we need holy friends with us in it. In my experience, the more we strive for holiness with friends, the greater our depth of faith and friendship grows. Secular friendship cannot compete with the joy of holy friendship. Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and when w have holy friends we catch a glimpse of the friendship Jesus wants to draw us into with Himself.

So, who are the saints with whom you are being called into friendship? And, who are the friends with whom you are being called to strive for sainthood? Name one saint and one person with whom you can grow in friendship, and experience of joy of becoming friends with the saints and becoming saints with friends.

Fr. Patrick