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at the very beginning of the 20th
century there were two young um Parisian
students intellectuals one was called
jacqu maritan and his girlfriend was
called
Raya and Raya was a poet jacqu Maran was
a student of philosophy they were
agnostics more or less and they decided
that um life was
meaningless and one day in the Luxemburg
Gardens in Paris they made a vow and
they said unless we can discover by the
end of the school year the meaning of
life we will commit
suicide and so during that period
there's something very you know Parisian
and and a little over the top about all
that but uh while they were waiting for
the school year to come to an end jacqu
Mary tan read a statement by Leon blis
who is a French spiritual writer Leon
blis said there's only one real sadness
in life not to be a saint and that had a
huge impact on young jacqu Mary 10an
blah was insinuating that there's all
kinds of sadnesses I mean I I didn't
become the success I wanted to be I
didn't achieve this and that I didn't
get the money I wanted all kinds of
sadnesses but they don't matter at the
end of the day there's only one real
sadness not to become a saint not to be
the person that Christ wants you to be
and see once you get that here's I think
what what struck maritan once you get
that your whole life changes your whole
attitude changes because most of us
spend most of the time fussing about
trivia and it might be something you
know becoming the president of the
United States but from a spiritual
standpoint it's trivial if you
accomplish that but don't become a saint
or to make all the money in the world
boy that's important um in the common
imagination but from a spiritual
standpoint it's
trivia the only real s the only real
failure is not to become a saint that
woke jacqu maritan up and I think of it
um whenever this Feast of All Saints
rolls
around one way to characterize sanctity
is simply becoming a friend of Christ
it's becoming Christ's
friend better allowing Christ to live
his life in you when St Paul says it's
no longer I who live it's Christ who
lives in me that's what it means to be a
saint that you allow Jesus so to
dominate your life in every aspect that
he's your lord of course dominous in
Latin just means Lord he's the Lord of
your whole life and here's something
because I've stressed a lot this
non-competitive quality of God you say
well you know I'm no longer alive you're
living your life in me it sounds so
oppressive as though I've just
surrendered everything but see no when
you surrender to God Who is the very
ground of your own being you find
yourself read Paul's letters his
personality is evident on every page his
unique form of intellectuality his own
passions his U uh emotional life I mean
all of it's there Paul is Paul but he
can say it's no longer I who live but
Christ who lives in me the old
self focused on ego and success and
money and power all that business that
that doesn't matter it's no longer I who
live that old self but it's Christ who
has come to dominate me and that means I
Paul have found my deepest self that's
what it means to be a saint well part of
the genius of the church is that uh we
have so many Saints and the Saints are
so diverse there's nothing of this kind
of I think of you know maist China in
the 1950s and 6s everybody's weing the
same thing and saying the same things
and walking the same way well that's
just tired you know uh um monotony the
Saints are not monotonous there's a wide
variety of personalities Styles
background
education um what do they all have in
common they've all become the friends of
Christ they've all allowed Christ to
live his life in them
but the Perfection of God is such that
it requires this wide variety
of manifestations in order to uh show
itself adequately there's no one Saint
who expresses the fullness of God each
of the Saints in his or her own way
Express something of God's uh Power I
use the image of the a bright white
light that passes through a prism and
then it breaks into many colors well
think of God's being as like this
intense white light God's Perfection but
now it passes through the prism of the
Saints and it splits into all sorts of
colors and so we look at that wide
variety and we get something of God's um
total Splendor it's also why it's
important for each person to find a
saint maybe who corresponds to his own
deepest longings or style or background
find a saint who yeah he's like me or
she's like me also I've argued uh find a
saint who's not like you find one who
doesn't have your background your
interest your style because that Saint
will probably complete something that's
lacking in you but all of them in their
Splendor represent uh the fullness of
God yeah I think it's okay to think of
saints as heroes in any Walk of Life we
have heroes or models if you're a
baseball player you look up to certain
uh great figures you're a golfer you
find there's a swing I want to emulate
and there is something of that in the
saints that we look to them as models or
Heroes for many people John Paul II was
that he was a a model of the Christian
life but Saints are more than that
because Saints are our friends uh I can
say well Roberto Clemente is my model of
how to run the bases but I'm not a
friend of Roberto Clemente um but the
Saints are alive and the Saints are
present to us they intercede for us from
their Heavenly place they guide us still
as the Liturgy says um see think of
Heaven not so much as way up there in a
physicalistic way like it's Way Beyond
the planet Jupiter or something that
just puts it at a great remov move think
of Heaven as somehow else it's another
dimensional system that yet impinges
upon our system the Saints is at work
can stoop low to enter into our system
and influence us pray for us act on our
behalf so when you find a saint you
found much more than just a model or a
guide you found a friend spiritual
friend uh who helps you in your
friendship with with
God I think the most fundamental quality
of a saint is a saint is someone who has
allowed Jesus to get into his boat and I
use that image from the scriptures when
Jesus gets into the boat of Simon
without being asked without being
invited he just gets into the boat and
then begins commanding and Simon
cooperates with them okay we'll go out
in the deep and okay I'll lower my nets
for a catch even though Lord we've been
at it all night long and caught nothing
but I'll do what you want that's a saint
uh so a saint is someone who has
decentered her life it's no longer
her projects her plans her goals it's
now what Christ wants to accomplish
through her and so she sees herself as a
vehicle again that's not to be construed
in a domineering way as though I I uh
negate myself no no you actually find
yourself that's why you know the Saints
are always very Vivid personalities I
don't know really an exception to that
the Saints are are vivid uh memorable
striking personalities even like the
Little Flower who's just spending her
whole life in this
quiet little Convent in Northwestern
France but talk about a vivid
personality because see the closer God
gets the more we're lit up from the
inside it's like the burning bush image
which is so powerful that when God comes
into the world he lights the world up
without consuming it so the bush is on
fire but not
consumed uh classical mythology whenever
the gods come in they destroy what they
have encountered they they have to clear
out a space
it's not true with the Bible that it's
the Saints are like the like a burning
bush they're on fire with Christ but
they're not consumed they're lit up they
become more radiant uh that's what we
admire about them that's why the artist
depict them with Halos I think because
they're a source of luminescence they're
a source of of Illumination to others
Mother Teresa had that role clearly in
the 20th century talk about a vivid
personality by the way um but she she
lit up the world around her uh that's
what the Saints do
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