The Call to Holiness in Our Time

Recently, I was watching the movie There Be Dragons about St. Josemaria Escriva and the Spanish Civil War, and I began thinking about the call to holiness and modern sainthood. St. Josemaria is perhaps best known as the founder of Opus Dei, and there is some controversy surrounding the man and his organization. Nevertheless, Pope St. John Paul II canonized him. This is because one thing is certain: we are all called to holiness and sainthood, and St. Josemaria Escriva knew this and advocated it. In fact, there is a scene in the movie where Fr. Josemaria is reunited with a (fictional) childhood friend. This friend says to him that he just wasn’t priestly material. Fr. Josemaria responded, “Perhaps not. But you are saint material.”

Admittedly, I do not know much about St. Josemaria or Opus Dei and, therefore, take both the opposition to and staunch defense of them with a grain of salt. I can take this stance because I know that none of us, in our earthly lives, are perfect; we all make mistakes or say things we wish we hadn’t. What I do know of St. Josemaria, which echoes Pope St. John Paul II’s feelings on him when canonizing him, is that he understood this and knew that we can be holy in spite of and because of our failings. My purpose here is not to dissect St. Josemaria Escriva’s life and motivations or Opus Dei, but to illustrate that sometimes we become so caught up in our own failings and weaknesses, or those of others, that we miss opportunities of grace. Sometimes we become so entrenched in the sludge of the day-to-day, or worry that we are too much becoming products of our times, that we forget that it is exactly those things that will sanctify us, if we allow them.

One criticism and one praise that I have read of St. Josemaria Escriva are, respectively, that he was a product of his time and that he lived fully in the present. I think the two go hand in hand. If we truly live fully in the present, with no worry for the future nor contempt or longing for the past, then our current age will be all that informs us, making us products of it. It takes extraordinary hope in heaven and trust in God to live this way.

Christ tells us in Matthew 6:33–34: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.” Worry only for today, this very moment. Worry only for how you are living this moment, how you are doing your work and interacting with others. Worry only for how you are responding to the world around you- no matter how small or wide- and to the grace of God in every moment. It is in these things that sanctity can be achieved. The call to holiness is universal, is catholic, precisely because it can be found in every instance, every word and deed, and every thought of every person. Let us all go out and become saints of our time.