Question:
If God made us to become saints, how can we achieve that?
Answer:
This is a question we should all ask ourselves every moment. Moreover, the answer to this question is never ending.
It’s true, we are made to be saints. God made us to be one with Him forever in Heaven. We call this holiness, sanctity, or saintliness. But how do we do so?
First, we seek the truth. Truth is discovered by faith. Faith is not just believing in something we cannot know for sure. It’s not just wishful thinking. Faith is knowledge. Certain knowledge. And we primarily obtain faith by permitting God to speak to our inner conscience and show that which is true. This occurs when two things are present. First, we engage our minds in the truth such as in the Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the teachings of the saints, etc. Second, reading the truth is not enough. We also need the “gift” of faith, meaning that when we hear the truth, God needs to confirm this truth as “true” in our conscience. God’s voice first revealed the truth through the Scripture, the Church or the saint, but then God tells us, interiorly, that this is His Truth. When this occurs, we must believe. When this happens, we are gifted with faith. We know, with deep interior certitude, that which God revealed.
Second, this process of coming to comprehend the truth in faith is strengthened by prayer. When we pray, it’s like adding fuel to a fire. The fire, which is faith, grows in intensity. As it grows in intensity, we grow in faith.
Third, we must live by what we come to know through faith. This is an act of our will. When we decide to live the faith we come to know, we grow in charity, holiness, and saintliness. We become saints.
