If we think about word “saint”, I’m pretty sure 90% of us, think about those religious men or women we find inside a church, or in the little stamps someone in need would offer us in a bus ride when in need for some change. We think of peculiar, extraordinary leading life people. We think of altars, and characters with people devoted to their lives. For most of us, being a Saint is something unreachable.
But you know what? Sanctity is not that. Not in the way the Catholic Church has taught me at least. Sanctity is something much simpler, and really much more reachable. And we are ALL, no matter what we believe in, called to be saints.
How? You’ll wonder, dear reader. How could something so attached to Catholicism be universal?
Let’s start with the fact that the word “catholic” literally means “universal”, and although in many aspects the Catholic Church doesn’t seem to be very much universal, the foundations of it are completely and absolutely universal. But this is not about the church, or religion; this is about universal sainthood. And know I WILL explain where I’m going.
First, if we think about Jesus’ message objectively, we could say, in few words, that we are all called to LOVE. Jesus set that straight; that LOVING is by far the most important thing. And that, my friends, is pretty universal. And for me, that say “God is Love” is all about that.
So, if we are meant to Love, we can understand that Love has to be foundation of our lives. That is Love (the one with capital “L”) the one that should guide our actions, because when we let it; when whatever we do we do with Love, that’s when we reach our plenitud of Self. That’s when we are ourselves in the most pure way. In our passions, in doing what we love, we find our calling, and in that, we find what we were actually “created for”.
And how it’s been said before, almost as a cliché, everyone is unique and irreplaceable. Every single person, comes to Earth to do something nobody but them can do. And all of those unique things, are our vocation, our calling.
So summing up, we could say that Loving, means bringing our calling to life. It means to actually do what we were designed to do.
Now, what do all those names of famous people, or your friend Julio, or even your mom have to do with all this? You’ll wonder...
Well, all those people are or have been true to their callings. And that, as simple as that, is actually what being saints is all about. For the church, in doing that, and because of the conception of God as the Creator, you are fulfilling God’s will. A God, that by giving us freedom of choice, has defined since the beginning of times each and everyone of us’ mission on Earth. And that’s all about being Saints. That IS Sanctity.
That’s why I believe we are all called to live saint lives. That’s why I believe this is all so universal. For example:
Kobe Bryant, came to Earth, I believe, to love basketball. To give his life to that sport, to that passion, which led him to even win an Academy Award (crazy right? I wrote about it a few entries back).
He used his passion to educate, and through it to help those who needed it, when he could. And he wasn’t a perfect man. This is not about being perfect. He made mistakes, but he faced them, recognized them, and apologized.
Bono, on the other hand, is still alive, but throughout his entire life, he has used his success as a musician (as the lead singer of U2) as a resource to do many philanthropic actions. He has been an exceptional men. And I know first hand, by a friend who’s a chef and had the honor of serving him, that he is also a kind person. This friend told me Bono was one of the nicest people he had served, saying that he had called him to greet and thank him for the meal, and he was an honestly humble dude, with no airs of superiority whatsoever.
Malala Youzafzai, Nobel peace price youngest laureate, with only two decades of life, has dedicated and even risked her life (she was literally shot in the face because of her activism) to fight for girls right to education, passionately, without even hesitating when almost losing her life.
My friend Julio, who died of cancer at only 27 who left in his third of a lifetime everything and more of what you leave in a “full life”. He loved and was loved. A man with a contagious and super loud laughter, passionate about his football team (Santiago Wanders), loved by many. Without a doubt, he had a fulfilled life. Even when his dad would tell me he wasn’t perfect (and I know that), for me, he was still a saint.
Recently passed Chadwick Boseman, the king of Wakanda; Who would have thought he played that part while battling cancer.
It’s amazing to see how the effect of someone’s passing on who they left behind speaks of that person’s greatness. Chadwick, through his job, did something historical for the black community. He left a legacy like non before. An icon, a superhero for his community to admire, to see themselves in. All that, tied to his way of enjoying life with calmness, enjoying it as in flowed, without greater complications. All of this things for me talk about someone saint.
Then there's Gaudí, “Don Antonì” as I call him, who gave his entire life to what he believed God had sent him to do. He gave his life to art and architecture, breaking boundaries and creating completely different ways of conceiving buildings. And he lived through his love of God. He was actually a Catholic, and as I said, he really wanted to do what he felt God wanted for him. The Sagrada Familia is proof of that.
And last but not least, “tía Pochi”, “Pochi” or “Germana” for her oldest friends, for me, my mom. She’s going to read this and say “I’m no saint”, but that’s just a sign of sanctity, as I’ve told her before (She literally read this, called me and told me “thanks for writing this, it’s beautiful, but please take me out of it, I’m embarrassed and now I won’t be able to share it with my friends”)
And although she may not feel worth of the title, the countless people that have been touched by my mothers love, from her 8 kids, to all the people she has helped in various volunteer work things, every person she has taught to play guitar, math, to cook, among others; all the people she has given Christmas cookies, from people from the vegetable and fruit markets and countless toll booth workers; the way she herself plays the guitar, and so so many more things, make my mom a living saint. Is she perfect? No she’s not. Nobody is. She stresses out so much more than needed, she has this guilt thing when she is not guilty of anything that drives me crazy. We argue A LOT. She gets mad, she grounds us. She’s perfectly imperfect, and 100% human, and with all that, in my eyes, and in many other people’s, she’s a saint.
So you see? We are all called to be Saints, and it doesn’t have to be that hard. Cause we are all called to truly BE. We are all called to live the life we were made for. Cause the puzzle of life can only be complete if each one of us IS. If each one of us LOVE and if we live by LOVING, we will fully BE.
So now you know it, let’s find that sainthood. Let us be beings of light who live for Love. Let’s do what make us happy. Let’s live our passions and enjoy every, from the tiniest to the biggest things, that make us smile, for life is meant for all those things, so let’s love life and let’s all be Saints!
PS: After a chat with an aunt who couldn’t understand why I was writing about saints, I realized, that apparently I didn’t clarify that all of this that I’m writing is just my opinion (as everything on this blog) on what I understand being a saint means. I’m not at all saying “official” saints are less admirable, and I know I’m “no one” to declare regular people saints. But I honestly believe in what I’ve written and I feel and hope that the way I explain what truly leading a saint life means for me, makes a lot more people actually want to be saints, just like I do. Because isn’t that what we all should aspire to be?
PS2: I also see my writings as part of my own “calling” and a lot of times I believe I can like, feel the breeze of “the White Dove” blowing into my ears words that are not truly mine. And that makes sharing “my thoughts” much more valuable for me, I guess...
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