A Crisis Of Saints
We live in a world today marked by crisis. It actually seems that we just move from crisis to crisis. The stability that we might have experienced in our world has all but vanished.
The word crisis comes from the Latin crisis, which means to ‘judge’ and the Greek krísis, meaning ‘decision.’ In today’s modern English, we often view a crisis as a critical and decisive turning point or change in one’s life. We are living through crises on an individual and collective level.
Our world is marked by crises of housing and homelessness, addiction, affordability, climate, war, and scandal, among many others. And it seems that all of these crises are marked by a lack of leadership.
Even our Church is marked by crisis and scandal. In fact, a book I was reading recently by Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises, presents the idea that we are in fact living in a time of a crisis of saints.
A crisis of saints.
So amidst all of this turmoil, confusion and sin how do we respond?
Be a saint!
The thing is, Jesus has already decided for you who you are to be and what you are made for.
Our world today presents us with many options and choices of who we can become and we have power to choose.
And while we are free to choose, for the Christian there really is no need to decide or be confused about what to do or how to respond to the crises of our time. Jesus has called you and invited you to be a saint and that must be our ultimate aim.
Writing in Lumen Gentium, one of the most important documents that emerged from the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI says, “All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (40).
Through the chaos of our world, the appropriate response of the Christian is to live as a saint day-by-day. At this time, Jesus desires to raise up saints who respond to the problems of our world with courage, humility and sacrificial love.
It seems like such a simple answer to many complex problems in our world, but I believe it is the only answer that will bear any fruit.
We as individuals and our world as a collective are in need of recognizing that we need to become saints.
“Make yourselves saints, and do so quickly!” Pope St. John Paul II
Patrick is a beloved son of the Father who desires to use his gifts to build up the Kingdom of God. You can read more of his writing on his blog.