Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Auditioning For Sainthood

Dreams can be useful things.  They wander through the soul, leaving the merest whispers, and I love them for the challenges they offer.

Daydreams stage little dramas in our minds.  They often call us forward into roles for which we begin mentally 'auditioning,' as we consider which dreams to pursue and which to set aside.

As a child, I rehearsed a lot for the part I most wanted to land as a grownup.  I had lots of props.  Dolls, of course, and pretend kitchen equipment, and dress-up clothes that made me look (I was sure of it) like a glamorous mommy.  I was especially fond of Mother's cast-off high heels, in which I teetered about house and yard at least a full inch taller.  I just knew my feet were growing into the shoes even as I wobbled along. I look back on those days now not so much as pretending, but as practice, and I'm happy to say that I grew up and landed my longed-for role as wife and mommy. 

I'm now long past childhood, but I'm not over the dreaming.  Indeed, I'm growing ever more serious about auditioning.  I am practicing daily for the most important role of my entire eternity.  God wants me to be with Him forever - that is why each one of us was created. Such glorious existence is, of course, called sainthood.  So I look carefully at the role models Holy Mother Church has given me. I speak with and imitate (or try to, at least) many of those who have traveled this road before.  I tiptoe in their footsteps and teeter, stumble, hoping that I'm growing step by wobbly step.  

To be with God forever. It is a high dream, for it is HIS dream.

I pray to have a good audition.  

'We must always have before our eyes the virtues and examples of the saints in order to pattern and form all our actions on them.'  (St. Francis de Sales)

'The saints were human as we ourselves are.  They were faced with the same difficulties, and temptations and wrestlings and agonies that confront us, and they dealt with them just as we do, only more bravely, and with a greater constancy and a more steadfast hope.  When we realise this, we feel that, at however great a distance, we still may dare to equate ourselves with them.  Sanctity is a goal to which there is no short cut, a temple to which there is no back entrance.  To it, there is but One Way - His, Who said of Himself, 'I am the Way.' (from The Living Pyx of Jesus by a Religious, Pelligrini and Co., Australia, 1941)

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is being linked with Theology Is A Verb and Reconciled To You for 'It’s Worth Revisiting Wednesday'        

Text not in quotes



Painting: George Phoenix, The Grandmother's Wardrobe, in US public domain due to age

4 comments:

  1. great title!! Another great post, thanks for your continued participation in #WorthRevisit!!!

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    1. Thank you. And thank you so much for the opportunity to link up. I apologize for never using hashtags anywhere..... I do not understand them, nor how they work - at ALL :) !

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  2. Once again...amazing writing: "Dreams can be useful things. They wander through the soul, leaving the merest whispers, and I love them for the challenges they offer." Ahhhhhh

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