How to Become a Saint [corrected version]greenspun.com : LUSENET : Catholic : One Thread |
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Dear Brother/Sister in Christ,May I ask you one simple question, How to become a saint? And also I want to send an e-mail to Pope John Paul II. Can you give me his e-mail
-- Sean Xavier Alquilita (sean_xavier_alquilita@hotmail.com), January 22, 2000Answers
Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
God makes people saints. What you have to do is not prevent Him from doing it.Tell God you want to be a saint; or better yet, tell Him you want to be the Christian that He wants you to be. Pray persistantly, sincerely, & it will happen. God wants you to be a saint more than you want it yourself. He wants it more than you want anything.
Just stop interfering with grace, which is what most of us do all the time.
-- or so (I@have.read), January 22, 2000.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
Sean, read carefully St. Paul's Letters and imitate him:"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Co ll,l)
Enrique
-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), January 23, 2000.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
Sean,It really depends on how you define "saint". Public saints, as I'd call it, are recognized by the Catholic Church as holy people (dead of course) who have performed at least 2 miracles after beatification. Private saints are ordinary people - you and me - who observe God's laws, commandments and way of life, who go out of their way to help other people. I have great respect for the public saints, but greater respect for the private saints in our lives, those who pass our lives without us noticing them at times. If you are really interested in becoming a saint, start from within - recognizing what have we done wrong in our lives in reference to the Church's teachings and the Bible, how can we improve our spiritual lives, and continuously seek perfection by following Christ's examples.
I don't think the Pope can be reached directly. Check out the Vatican's web site and send an email to them: www.vatican.va
Best of wishes in your journey.
-- Ethan (ethan_hawk@usa.net), November 03, 2000.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
The only way to become a saint is to remember this. "If God is our father and we are his children, why did the father leave his children to die? If God is so Powerful, Why can't he forgive his own son who betrayed him? If God is so almighty, Why does he hide his clouds, fearing to face his children? It wasn't Judas who betrayed Jesus, it was the father who betrayed them both. The father had the power to intervene but he didn't. All the father knows how to do is take life and now God has a problem. I have decided to challenge the creator to come out from behind his clouds and face me. I have commanded the father God to bow before me. I will take the place of the father God, and I will become the father. God is a coward and he has no power. If God has so much power, then why doesn't he reveal himself, show himself and show his power to me. A verse in the bible states that God's power is made perfect in Weaknesses, but I believe that God powerlessness is made perfect in strength. How many people can challenge the creator and live to tell about it? Many have warned me of not challenging the creator, but the father is an abuser and he has always been an abuser, but I will not be abused by him any longer. The creator will never have my obediance, my submission, and I will never again kneel before any God. Abusive and violent, God he is. He has left his children on Earth to suffer and die, yet he cannot interfere. I believe that only a coward will shy away from his abuser, and a saint will challenge and confront his abuser. I will never again be a victim of God's betrayal and he shall know his wrongdoings and he will either make an amends and save his children, forgive his son, and give christ his power, or he will forever live in his prison behind his clouds forever.
-- Julien Quentin (Khano88@aol.com), January 02, 2002.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
"If God is our father and we are his children, why did the father leave his children to die?"
If his children are open to loving God and one another, they don't die, but have eternal life.
"If God is so Powerful, Why can't he forgive his own son who betrayed him?"
His only Son, Jesus Christ, never betrayed Him.
"If God is so almighty, Why does he hide his clouds, fearing to face his children?"
He does show Himself to those who seek Him with a pure heart.
"The father had the power to intervene but he didn't."
If the father *always* intervened, no matter what, there would be no room for our free-will.
"All the father knows how to do is take life. . ."
He gave you life.
"I will take the place of the father God, and I will become the father."
I guess this is what they mean by a God-complex. How is this supposed to happen, when He is omnipotent, and you couldn't even tie your shoes if it weren't for the fact that He sustains your shoe-laces in existence?
"If God has so much power, then why doesn't he reveal himself, show himself and show his power to me."
Can His power only be measured by His catering to your whim?
"How many people can challenge the creator and live to tell about it?"
So *that's* what's going on. You think you're hot stuff because you feel all brave about typing a few words into your computer. God might well let you say all these blasphemies for years, all the way to death. Then, if you die unrepentant of blasphemies committed with full knowledge of the wrongness, you will be put in a place with other blasphemers, forever. But you have time to repent, and turn to Him, so that you go to heaven.
"Many have warned me of not challenging the creator, but the father is an abuser and he has always been an abuser, but I will not be abused by him any longer."
Actually, what it sounds like to me is that some *people* have abused you, and you are blaming God. Do you blame God for your own sinful actions also? If not, why do you blame God for other people's sinful actions? The truth is, God Himself went through far worse suffering than you, on the cross.
"The creator will never have my obediance, my submission, and I will never again kneel before any God."
This is, in so many words, the sign over the gate to hell.
"He has left his children on Earth to suffer and die, yet he cannot interfere."
But He is intervening all the time. In fact, if you gave up your definace, and turned to Him, He could make you into a saint, and then intervene through you -- using you as a vessel -- for miracles, such as healings.
"I believe that only a coward will shy away from his abuser, and a saint will challenge and confront his abuser."
Rest assured that no saint hates the very source of all goodness and love.
-- Chris B -- January 02, 2002.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
Dear Chris B,
The poor soul whom you've just answered is a kind of antipodean Chris B. Notice what we see in the two of you:Julien (the Apostate?) is determined to be unholy and uncompromising with the One he acknowledges is our God. He is egotistic, self-absorbed and vitriolic. He wants desperately to appeal to our intellects.
You are the exact North Pole to Julien's South Pole. You are determined to love and worship God. Instead of unholy, you wish to be truly Christ-like. Instead of uncompromising, you wish to serve God, as His divine Son Jesus serves Him.
Despite your suffering, you aren't self-absorbed. Your intelligence leads you to God and His Will, not away from God.
The main problem with Julien and kids like him is immaturity. He is too obviously wet behind the ears, and he's indulging in teenage fantasy. Too many trips to the PC Games counter where he squanders his allowance. Bright kid with too much time on his hands, and no useful occupation.
-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 02, 2002.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
Gene, you are incredinly kind to me. You and some others have said such kind owrds to me lately, I really thank you very much. I think we all have times when we wonder if what we are doing is helping others, and it really helps us to be told that it does in some way.
The way I see myself is as someone who really had to get hit over the head with a club, and dragged off, even to start talking to God. Some people here have said such kind things about my intelligence, but yesterday, I was trying to clean up some dog poop, and after I wiped it up, I sprinkled baking soda on it (to draw it out of the carpet), and I was sitting there with a big container of baking soda in my hand, and you know what I did? -- Like a total stooge, I just stretched my arms, like when you wake up from a nap, and just dumped a ton of baking soda all over myself. Lol! If there's a moral to this story, I think it's that if we think we, or someone else is "smart," we also always need to recall that each of us has a Mo, Larry, and/or Curly inside us just waiting to go "woo! woo! woo!" :-)
But I really am very appreciative of your kind words. I want you guys to know that they have really helped me a lot.
-- Chris B -- January 02, 2002.Response to HOW TO BECOME A SAINT"
Julien,The creator will never have my obediance, my submission, and I will never again kneel before any God.
I've got to give you this, we've had a lot of misguided posters here, but I think you have won the prize for saying something *most similar* to that uttered by Satan himself. I hope that you are still a young man, and rebellious in general and will later come to appreciate your life and gifts and the Lord. If you are already old in body or spirit, I can only pray for your return to sanity.
Frank
-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), January 02, 2002.
[Moderator: Please do not delete this thread. Please delete the originally restored version, as I requested in a note to you at the bottom yesterday.]
-- The Thread Restorer (Thread@Restoration.Com), December 04, 2003
Raise your arms to God and ask Him to pick you up and clasp you to His bosom..... For I tell you unless you become as little children you shall not enter the King dom of Heaven.....
-- Padraig Caughey (padraigcaughey@hotmail.com), December 04, 2003.
The best way to become a Saint would be to pray. Pray and pray lots. Pray when you don't feel like praying.Through prayer we aquire a knowledge of our sins. Through this knowledge we gain humility. Eventually we will get to a point where prayer is dry and boring. But if we perservere we will obtain gifts from God, what I cannot say because I do not know.
How should you pray? That is up to you. Do what fits you best.
Becoming a saint is not the easiest thing in the world. First we have to become humble and then later people might think that we are crazy, or you might get a big head, or you think you are crazy.
For some very interesting reading on this, read St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Puedo-Dyinisius(sp?). But these are very hard people to read.
-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), December 04, 2003.
Who wants to be a saint ??Who decides who will be a saint & why ??
Persons like Father Kolbe or Mother Theresa , I have absolutely respect for them , 'cause they really did something for the world , saving many lives !! __ Father Kolbe , even gave his life for a family !!
Salut & Cheers from a NON BELIEVER:
-- Laurent LUG (.@...), December 04, 2003.
You like Father Kolbe, huh? Ha! Me too; he's my Confirmation saint; good pick Laurent.Father Kolbe was often accused of being an antisemite, but I guess he proved everyone wrong when he died in the place of a Jewish man, for him and for his family. "No greater love..."
-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), December 04, 2003.
There is no reason to believe that St. Maximilian was anti-semitic. However, he did not "prove" this by dying in place of a Jewish man.The family man whom he replaced was a Catholic Pole, Francis Gajowniczek. Francis -- what a name, considering that Maximilian was a Franciscan! -- died in 1995 after having attended the saint's beatification and canonization ceremonies, and is only one of two laymen buried in the cemetery of St. Kolbe's Franciscan community, Niepokalanow (City of the Immaculate Lady).
-- (Admirer@of.Kolbe), December 04, 2003.
Maybe that is correct, that the prisoner he died for wasn't a Jew. I thought I had been told that a long time ago. I'll take your word for it and do a double check on it. Apologies for the mistake, Laurent.But as for being accused of anti-semitism, Kolbe was. He was opposed to Zionism and he was also very strongly opposed to Freemasonry. He did in fact believe the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to be an authentic document.
One could look at the way the Zionists try to disparage this Saint of the Catholic Church, and then look at the way they treat Mel Gibson's upcoming movie about the Passion of Christ, and deduce a thing or two. Or three.
-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), December 04, 2003.