A moment of Sainthood

We have all grown up hearing and learning about saints.  Many of us are named after a saint also.  Growing up I have read about a lot of saints and learned a lot about their lives through my teachers and parents.  I have always wondered what  it takes to become a saint.  When I peeked into the lives of the saints, I understood that most of them lived very simple and ordinary lives.  But what they did with their simple and ordinary lives is the key to how they became a saint.  I am sure there are many more saints who lived on this earth who have not yet been recognized by the church.

So how can we live in this 21st century with all its crazy technology and other cool discoveries and still give a try to becoming a saint?  Is it even possible?  Well, I would like to share with you all some simple observations I have found to help us, maybe get close enough to becoming a saint.  The rest is up in Gods' hands.

I call it: Moments of Sainthood.

Scenario 1: The day was extremely hard because you had a crying baby, a notorious toddler, and a whiny 6 year old creating chaos and huge mess all around the house while husband is out of town for the weekend.  But you got through it all with grace and much patience, you were able to do that because deep inside you were dreaming about 9pm that night, when all your kids would be in bed asleep, when you can make yourself some tea/coffee and grab your favorite snack and catch your favorite TV show or a movie, or read a book, clean, cook, just rest etc.  After all the hard work throughout the day, by 9pm you have two in bed and you know that the baby will sleep soon too because she did not even get a proper nap.  But 9:30 passes by, its 10:30 now and you are still rocking around your 18 month old!  Your back is hurting, you are at the verge of anger and depression because everything you had planned for that night looks like it's never going to happen.  Finally at 11pm baby falls asleep.  Along with the baby,  there you are, in bed, exhausted, tired, depressed and angry.  It is just so hard to understand the whole meaning of your life as a mother at that moment.  Why can't I even get an hour to myself?  I gave everything I had to them the whole day today and still here I am at 11pm completely exhausted.  That is a moment of Sainthood. What you do in that situation is very important, to grasp that moment of sainthood for yourself.  You can hate your husband at that time who left you alone with the kids, you can blame the kids themselves, you can blame yourself for being such a horrible mother.  Or you can embrace that moment.  Lord is right there with you.  He is giving this small suffering to you.  Its up to you to willingly take it with joy or throw it away with anger and frustration.

 Scenario 2: It is with much difficulty that you pulled through homeschooling and cooking that day, only waiting for your husband to be home that evening and to bury yourself in his love and empathy and support.  That evening husband calls saying that there is an emergency at the apartment he owns and won't be back home until much later.  Your heart literally breaks.  The strength you held on to all that time is  shattered.  Here is a moment of Sainthood the Lord is allowing.  What do you do?  You can become furious, take that irritation upon your children,  and wait for that moment for your husband to get home so that you could spew out your anger and hate upon him. You could raise your voice and yell and scream in an attempt to make him understand what you went through that day.  Or you could take a deep breath and get the kids ready for dinner, spend some time reading to them or play with them, even though you don't feel like doing any of it.  You could open the door for your husband when he comes in and greet him with a smile on your face.  After a loving hug or kiss, you could share in a gentle voice that you had a pretty hectic day and invite him happily for the dinner your prepared.  This is sainthood.  You just willingly accepted that cross Jesus was putting before you and you embraced it with love.

Scenario 3: You are hoping for a goodnight's sleep as you go to bed around 12am after finishing up all your chores. You especially prayed to God that the children all sleep well and to keep the youngest 2 year old sleeping throughout the night. You wake up at 1pm hearing the screaming of your two year old.  Looks like she had a bad dream or something because she is kicking and screaming at the same time.  You quickly grab her and walk around the room hoping for her to fall asleep.  This should be quick. She normally wakes up in the night and goes back to sleep pretty quickly.  Oh..how you wish that was the case. She not only didn't go back to sleep but came back fully alive being so playful.  What do you do?  Tried putting her to sleep, sang many songs, it is 3am and here you are so tired and sleepy.  You look at your husband, and there he is sleeping oh so peacefully.  But you don't want to wake him up because he has to go to work early in the morning.  Still there is anger and jealousy building up in your heart because as a sleep deprived mom, you truly want your super hero husband to just wake up and take care of the child. And you know that is not going to happen (partly because you realize that he didn't even know that the baby was crying in the first place)! Plus its not like the baby is just going to go with him happily because, obviously, she needs the mom.  Here is a moment of Sainthood.  What can you do?  You could just be pissed off at the child, slam the door behind as you walk out with the baby to make your husband aware of what is happening, be irritated with the child who is awake or you could accept the fact that you are not going to get your sleep for tonight, so might as well take the opportunity to wake up and hang out with the child, go watch Barney with her or do something until she is tired again.  In fact that night the baby went to bed only at 5am.  You could be at peace that you handled the situation well and more so than that you just received this cup of purification from our Lord and handled it so well. That was the moment of sainthood.

Scenario 4: One day your friend shows up and starts yelling at you for nothing you really did but in her eyes you have offended her through whatever you did.  Here is a moment of Sainthood again.  You could get back at her with your arguments and excuses in the same way she is speaking to you or you could just see it as a great moment to accept the saintly opportunity and just calm down and stay quiet until she is done.  When your friend has finally finished with all her griping, speak to her with compassion and love and explain yourself if only the situation calls for it.  There you have taken Sainthood to another level.

             


Scenario 5: Your parents, who are in their old age, are expecting you to help them with filling out applications, call the insurance company, or even take them to the doctors office.  When you are in the middle of homeschooling and dealing with all the other good stuff that comes with it, it is not so easy to do these things for your parents.  So you finally find time and do it all well and nice for them.  But even after all that is done and taken care, here you dad comes up with all these questions which kind of make you look like you don't know a thing.  There you got another moment of sainthood.  You could either ignore your poor parent, say something harsh back to them so they don't ask such questions anymore, or you could explain it all with a lot of humility and make them feel comfortable.  After all, they are the ones who spent all those sleepless nights carrying you around, loving you patiently.  To remember these good old days with your parents and love them unconditionally is an opportunity the Lord is putting before you.  Whether you take it or not is up to you.




Scenario 6: At work, you finished all your work for the day and you are getting ready to run back home. As you are about to leave, your coworker seeks your help in understanding something he can't figure out on his own.  Your choices are turn him down saying you are busy and will help the next day or leave  your bag down and go help him.  When you help that poor man/woman by putting away your needs, you are truly helping Jesus.  There you just grasped that moment of sainthood.

Scenario 7: You are rushing out of church with all your kids who gave you such a hard time during Mass.  All you want is just get back home. As you walk out you can see an old lady whom you know is waiting for someone to give her a ride.  You want to avoid eye contact at any cost.  You put your head down and look the other way and try to walk out.  However, you are reminded of charity and kindness at that moment.  You could still push those good thoughts away and think of the hardships you are facing.  You know that the lady knows you well and would rather get a ride with you than someone else at church.  Well, there is your sainthood moment.  Would you rather walk up to her with full joy and ask her whether she needs a ride or walk away letting go of the wonderful opportunity?  Yes, your kids are whining, and the little one is on your waist crying.  But what good it is to love and help others when the moment is perfect.  Sainthood happens when you do it even when times are bad for you.  God actually does miracles when you embrace these moments. The crying child becomes so happy as she sees there is one more person coming along with her in the car.  The whining children forget what they were whining about because all of a sudden they are distracted by the new person who is coming with them.  After all, isn't that a valuable lesson that you can teach your children about helping others.  A moment of sainthood....

Scenario 8: Your mother in law walks into the house and you are expecting her to ask you how you are doing or how the kids are.  But the first thing that comes out of her mouth is, "Make Some TEA!!!"  Those words are not music to your ears.  You would have happily made that tea but the tone in her voice changed everything.  There, God is bringing the sainthood so near to you in that moment.  Embrace it or do it with anger and frustration.  You put a smile on your face and give her a hug and welcome her into the house.  You help them get seated in your living room couch comfortably, let your husband hang out with them, and you go to the kitchen and make a nice cup of tea with love filled in it and offer it to your in-laws happily. Go get some snacks and offer it.  Tell them to wait and have lunch or dinner and go.  Hey, there you have already become a saint in that moment.  Wont you try it??

Scenario 9:  It is a free day that you have in your hand.  There are clothes to be washed/folded, rooms to be cleaned, dishes to be washed, dinner to be made or  homework to be finished.  But laziness is forcing you to sit back and relax.  All those pending TV shows come to your mind, or checking out social media or sleep. Would you fall into these temptations or  you can relax and do these things after you are done with your chores by being responsible.  Our sainthood happens when we are accountable to God by fulfilling the responsibilities he has given to us.

 

I have plenty more instances to share but I shall stop here.  I have not fully achieved any of this yet.  But I am a work in progress and I might be in that stage till I die.  You might be too and that's okay.  You tried!  Jesus saw that.  He was right next to you.  He was preparing you all that time to reach heaven to be with him one day.  Its never too late to try it.  If we can offer up these sufferings to God to use it for the good of someone else, how wonderfully are we participating in the work of the Lord.

We may not get to be a martyr or go through big sufferings, but to reach heaven our ordinary lives are enough.  That's what the examples of the saints lives teach us.  So are we ready to accept these moments of Sainthood our Lord is putting before us?