November 1 2019 - All Saints (School Mass) - The person God made me to be

As a student at St. Ignatius of Antioch School, or in your youth, you may have been asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” If I were to ask the young students in our congregation here today, I’d bet I’d come up with a whole host of answers: a professional athlete or a teacher, a doctor or nurse or veterinarian, an actor or musician or artist, perhaps a soldier or police officer or fire fighter. At different times in my life I wanted to be an archaeologist and uncover ancient cities, and it wasn’t until I was a little older, in college, that I thought God was calling me to be a priest.
Well, no matter the profession, I bet every single one of us could answer that question, “when I grow up, I want to be happy. I want to do something that makes me happy. That helps the world.” No one wants to grow up to be unhappy or bored.

Well, what if I told you that being happy in life, being fulfilled, is not simply the result of your job or profession, it’s not based on the amount of money you make, the amount of power or responsibility, it’s not based on how popular or famous you become. The French poet Leon Bloy, rightly said, There is really only one sadness in life, not to be a saint.” For each of us has been made by god to become holy, to be a saint. And the only real sadness in life, is to not become the person God made us to be, happy with him in this life that we may be happy with him in eternity.

So if you had to choose between all of the material wealth, power, and fame the world could give you, if you choose any of those things over being a saint…you chose wrong.

For the saints, Saints like Francis and Clare, Ignatius and Joan of Arc, Agnes and John Vianney, they show us what it means to be truly alive. Life is not meant to be all about the pursuit of material things and earthly things, but spiritual things and heavenly things.

In the Gospel today, did Jesus say blessed are you when you win trophies for your athletic accomplishments? No. Did he say, blessed are you when you are well-known in your professional field? No. Did he say, blessed are you if you have more friends, more money than other people? No.
What did he say? Blessed are you when you are merciful, blessed are you when you are pure of heart. The beatitudes, the teachings of Jesus Christ, are the key to unlocking the blessedness for which we are made.

And today we celebrate those individuals who followed God’s plan for their life, who followed the teachings of Jesus instead of the errors and empty promises of the world.

In the end, the question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” isn’t nearly as important as the question, “God, what do you want from me? God, what is your will for me? God, how can I become the person you made me to be?”

Most of the time, we spend our efforts pursuing trivial things, which do not bring us the happiness, the joy that God offers us in the life of holiness. It might even be something the world considers very important, like becoming a famous basketball player. But if you become famous, but do not become a saint, you chose wrong.

What does it mean to become a saint? To become a saint means to become a true friend of Jesus Christ—allowing Jesus Christ to live his life in you. To be a saint is to invite Jesus into every dimension of your life, and allow him to reign. To put on the mind of Christ, to put on the attitude of Christ, to put on the heart of Christ in all things. And the saints are celebrated for doing just that.
Each of the saints has an interesting story. It is interesting to hear how Saint Francis would preach to the animals, or how Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, or how the Devil would appear to St. John Vianney trying to scare him, or how St. Sebastian was shot with arrows and still survived, or how St. Theresa of Avila would levitate when she prayed. But behind every saint is that great desire to know Jesus and to love him with their whole heart. And that’s what we need to emulate.

Don’t get swept up with all of the distractions are world gives us. Being a saint means saying “no” to a lot of things—things which seek to ruin our friendship with Jesus, things that seek to corrupt our minds, sour our hearts. But we say “no” to the things of the world, because of our great desire to say “yes” to God with all of our being.

Today, on this feast of Saints, we recognize our own call to become saints, we ask the saints of heaven to help us become like them, to love Jesus more than anyone or anything. We look to their example, and seek their prayers, that we may become the saints that God made us to be for the glory of God and salvation of souls.