AN EASY WAY TO BECOME A SAINT

by
Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, O.P. [E.D.M.] With Eccles. Appr., 1949, Portugal
TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS

Chapter 3
THE WONDERFUL THINGS GOD HAS DONE FOR US

OUR CREATION

God made us. How little we understand these words. Many have never heard a worthy explanation of them. Who made us is one of the first questions in the Catechism. The brief answer is "God made us." Satisfied with these few words, Catholics go on living all their long lives hopelessly ignorant of the immense truth, joy and consolation hidden in them. As a result, they never even think of pouring out their most grateful thanks to the Almighty for this first infinite proof of love which He has given them. They take the gift of their creation for granted and have not the faintest idea of how much they owe to God for bringing them out of nothing and giving them a glorious existence, an existence which will never cease.

Why did God create me? Simply because He loved me. He saw me with all my poor weaknesses and defects. Yet He loved me that first moment with an infinite, personal love. He could have just as easily created an Angel like St. Michael or a Saint like St. Paul. But no, He created me, and since that moment He has never ceased loving me and will never cease to love me, unless I outrage and offend Him. Even then He will take me back to His friendship, if I repent and ask His pardon. We can understand the wonderful love a mother feels when her first-born baby is placed in her arms. The love of all the mothers who ever lived is not equal to the tenderness and love of God when He holds us in His "arms." He not only created us, but He created us from an infinite love.

How did He create us? He created us with His Own Divine hands. He did not depute an Angel to bring us into being, but employed in making us all His Omnipotent Power, His Divine Wisdom, His most tender love. How perfect a thing we must be, and we do not know it!

All the famous painters, before beginning their great masterpieces, sought with the utmost diligence to find a suitable model so that their work might be perfect. Then they labored assiduously, using the minutest care in the execution of the picture. Almighty God, when creating us, also chose a model, the most perfect that even He could choose. That model was Himself. He made us to His Own image and likeness! He made us like Himself! Our likeness to God does not consist in a mere external resemblance, such as a photograph is of the person it represents. We are like to God in the very presence of our nature. Our souls are spiritual, like God; they are immortal, like God; they will live as long as God lives, for ever and for ever. They are beautiful, like God. How could they be otherwise since He, the Divine Artist, made them after the most perfect model.

We have two great faculties like those of God, our intellect and free will. He planted, too, in our inmost being, a craving for Him that nothing else can satisfy, so jealous is He of our love.

And for what destiny did He create us? He made us for the highest destiny that was possible; He made us for Himself. He made us not to be His servants, but to be His Own children, to be seated on thrones amidst the Angels, in His presence, sharing His infinite and eternal happiness. [The author does not mean we do not serve God, but that we are more than servants as he wrote in the previous chapter.-------the Web Master.] How wonderful is the story of our creation! How is it possible that, knowing all this, we do not love God.

O, Dear Reader, think about and meditate on the infinite love of God in creating you. Weigh well every word that you have just read, for in every word you will find cause for joy and consolation.

THE GIFT OF DIVINE GRACE

Scarcely had we been born when our parents took us to the baptismal font. We had come into the world covered with a hideous leprosy, the filth and corruption of Original Sin, which we inherited from our First Parents. The baptismal water was poured on our heads; we were bathed in the Precious Blood of Jesus, the same that was shed for us on Calvary.
These saving waters cleansed our souls from this hideous leprosy, leaving them as pure as the Angels in Heaven, while God, by an infinitely Divine act of love, clothed our souls with a dazzling mantle taken from His Own shoulders, viz., with the robe of Divine Grace. This is a real participation in His Own Divine nature, as St. Peter assures us.

Did we see our soul clad in this Divine mantle, we should be inclined to fall down and adore it. Nothing on this Earth can give us even a faint idea of a soul in Grace-----an image of God, radiant, resplendent with Divine beauty. This Divine grace is not only a robe of beauty, it is a Divine force, a new life, which raises up our natures, giving them a new dignity. It penetrates into our faculties, illuminates our intellects and strengthens our will. With it we can see and do what would be otherwise utterly impossible to our poor human nature.

How little do we understand the wonders God has done for us! Foolish, ignorant parents are so blind that they sometimes leave their children for days without Baptism. The life of the newly born babe is so fragile that it may die at any moment, and then! That dear soul will never see God, through the culpable neglect of those who should love it most. And even if the child does not die, why leave it wallowing in the corruption and filth of Original Sin? Fathers and mothers strive to save their children from the least bodily defect, yet owing to crass ignorance, they allow them to remain so long under the curse and malediction of sin. Sad, woeful ignorance!

GOD WATCHES OVER US

Nothing perhaps manifests so clearly God's personal love for each one of us as His Divine Providence, which is watching over us every moment and in every event of our lives. God has never taken His eyes off us since the moment of our creation, but is ever watching over us with loving care. Nothing happens to us that He does not see and permit. Not even a hair falls from our heads without His consent. Every moment of our lives is a new creation; our preservation is, as it were, a continual series of creations. Did God forget us or take His hand off us for a single moment, we should not only die, but fall back into our former nothingness. He takes care of the beasts that roam in the forests, of the little birds that fly in the air, He clothes the lilies of the field in a garb more beautiful than that of Solomon in all his glory. He sees every movement of the little fishes in the ocean, of the insects which are hidden in the earth. With far greater reason, He tells us, does He watch over us who are His dear children, so that all that happens to us is for our welfare and happiness, as St. Paul tells us: "All things work together unto good." (Rom. 8:28).

Nothing is so touching as the care a mother takes of her little one who is playing at her side. She is apparently intent on her sewing or knitting, but not for an instant does she lose sight of the child. At the first sign of danger, throwing aside what she has in hand, she rushes toward the little one and snatches it from the peril that threatened it. This is exactly how God watches over us. His eyes are ever on us. Though we may think that our troubles come from an enemy or from some other cause or by chance, we may be sure that nothing happens to us that God does not will.

What is lacking is our want of confidence. If we only ran to God in all our troubles, our lot in life would be very different from what it is, very much happier.

OUR ANGEL GUARDIAN

One of the most marvelous dispensations of God's Providence is the fact that He has given to each one of us a special Angel to watch over us. At the moment of our birth God calls one of His glorious Princes, one of His mighty Angels, and bids this Angel guard and guide, defend and protect us. From that moment, this mighty Angel gives us all his loving care. He never leaves us, night or day. His duty after loving God is to love us. He devotes all his intelligence, all his strength, all his care to shield us from hurt and harm. We can form no idea of the evils and dangers he saves us from, the countless great favors he has done us and is doing us every day. Not content to use all his own power to help us, he is constantly praying for us to God.

Reading the story of St. Raphael in the Sacred Scri ptures, we marvel at the infinite goodness of God in sending this great Angel to accompany the young Tobias on his long journey. The Angel proved to be a trusty friend. He not only accompanied him on his journey, protecting him from every danger, but he also obtained for him a most happy marriage and abundant wealth. He brought him home safely, to the delight of his parents, who were anxiously awaiting his return. As a final gift, he cured Tobias's old father, who had been blind. Before leaving the now happy family, he revealed himself to them as one of the seven great Angels who stand before the throne of God and bade them bless and thank the Good God who had sent him to them.

This is certainly one of the most consoling and wonderful stories in the Bible, revealing to us the infinite sweetness and goodness of God. Yet each one of us has a glorious Prince of Heaven with us, not for weeks or months but for all the long years of our lives, loving us most affectionately, defending us from countless evils and snatching us from dangers that we do not even see. This dear Angel came to us at the moment of our birth and has been with us ever since. He will console us in Purgatory if we go there and will then accompany us to Heaven, where he will be with us forever and forever. We marvel when reading this story of Raphael, but it is a much greater marvel that we have a glorious Angel ever at our sides and yet know and love him so little. Have we ever even thanked God for this astounding proof of His goodness?

The culpable neglect of our dear Angel is one of the most lamentable and shameful faults of our life.

Read, Dear Reader, without fail, the beautiful book, All About the Angels, by E. D. M. [The pen name of Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, O.P.-----Ed.]

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