Every human person has the potentiality to become a saint, the men and women whom we consider as worthy of special reverence and respect, who have contributed to the wellbeing of the world and of the universe through their sanctity. But all too often we think it is only the religious men and women who have committed themselves to the Lord through their vows and the clergy who have been sanctified through the sacrament of Ordination are eligible candidates to adorn our Church altars. It does not require me to state that such a notion is quite contrary to the life of sanctity that every person is called to, though the Church as yet, does not require saints from other religious faiths and traditions.
What makes a difference in the life of a saint, and why is it that some are able to achieve greater heights of sanctity, while some others are not? Take the case of some of the modern day saints and the blessed; Blessed Teresa of Kolkata or Saint Alphonsa! I was fortunate to see the last one and a half decades of the life of Blessed Teresa in Kolkata, and yet what a marked difference in the level of sanctity between her and me; true, the comparison does not go well at all. There were so many religious men and women who were contemporaries of Blessed Teresa, and went through similar kind of struggles and difficulties, and yet this saint of the gutters managed to achieve something which others could not.
I understand it is not easy to pinpoint what made saints and Blessed different from their contemporaries! Already at the outset I need to make this point loud and clear: when I say ‘a saint’ or ‘a blessed’ I don’t necessarily imply a person who has received the official approval of the Catholic Church. For I believe the world has so many saints from every nook and cranny of the world that our Church altars cannot contain, and the libraries of Vatican cannot hold! They too are saints, even if the world recognizes them or not, for sanctity is not merely associated with an external approving agency, such as that of the Vatican, but is associated with what one is called to!
As I stand at the threshold of yet another season of Lent this year, I would like to look back at the “way of the Cross”, our traditional piety and a moving means of coming closer to the Crucified Lord, to recognize seeds of sanctity which the Lord had pointed to us, even as he walked that one long journey to Calvary. The seeds are there, sometimes half hidden, sometimes covered by the blood of the Savior, some other times shrouded by the wickedness of humanity. I am here to seek these seeds and make a sincere effort to plant these seeds into the core of my being, so that I may one day walk the same path of Calvary, if not in concrete, but at least in spirit.
What I propose therefore is this : I shall take each station of the Cross, and seek a seed of sanctity hidden in the mystery of the suffering of the Master; these are not time for scriptural study of some key texts, nor time for serious exegesis, but time for a soul-searching seeking together with the countless men and women who had walked the same path of Calvary and found the seeds, and planted them in their souls and one day experienced the honor of being sharers in the life of their Lord. Therefore these are meditations, exercises of seeking and pondering over the life of the Lord vis-à-vis my life here and now! Who knows, at the end of my journey, I may have a seed or two, which may find fertile soil in my heart, and bear fruits which the Lord will be happy with!
In order to provide enough pointers for my body and mind to seek the seeds of sanctity in the midst of my life here and now, I shall spend a few more minutes. Therefore instead of the customary five paragraphs, I shall go up to seven paragraphs, and the last paragraphs will be a prayer of either supplication or surrender to the Lord. Each of the numbers in parenthesis after the title of the Blog will correspond to the traditional Stations of the Cross, and those who may afford can make use of the meditations for the Stations of the Cross too.
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