Be who you are!!

I have three things I would like to share on this topic:

1. I once heard a quote attributed to St. Catherine of Sienna and it has stuck with me: "Be who you are and you will set the world on fire." It's a beautiful statement but as a young woman I have struggled immensely in trying to figure out just exactly who it is I am, because I can't very well set anything on fire if I don't first have that! I have learned, by grace alone, that I can only discover who I am in Christ. Since I have been created in Him, it only makes sense that I would discover the truth of who I am by consulting Him as my Creator! (Use the analogy of a painting and its painter. Who better to discuss the true meaning of the painting with than the painter himself?)

2. I must confess that reading stories of the saints has often left me feeling troubled. I never felt I could live up to such extreme holiness demonstrated by the lives of Catherine of Siena or Francis of Assisi for example. Would I have the faith necessary within my freedom to chose God in extraordinary circumstances? The problem I discovered was a self created one. I am a completely distinct creation. I am not called to be a copy of Catherine or Francis. God has a plan for me that only I, in my singularity, can fulfill so I should chose to accept and follow: it is in this that my sainthood is to be achieved! I attribute this thought to a brilliant English writer from the 20th century, Evelyn Waugh. He wrote, "Saints are simply souls in heaven. Some saints have been so sensationally holy in life that we know they went straight to heaven and so put them in the liturgical calendar. We all have to become saints before we get to heaven. That is what purgatory is for. And each individual has his own form of sanctity which he must achieve or perish. It is no good my saying: 'I wish I were like Joan of Arc or St. John of the Cross.' I can only be St. Evelyn Waugh - after God knows what experiences in purgatory." To steal from him a little more, I probably won't be thrown to the lions nor am I mystic and I certainly don't look like an El Greco - but I can, in being myself, become a saint and in so doing "set the world on fire" in my own small way! So, continue to discover who you are in Christ and beg for the grace to follow the path He has created for you so that you may become St. fill-in-the-blank! We'll have this place ablaze in no time...

3. Here's my last thought. We ought to pray not only that we come to know ourselves in and through Christ but for an increase of faith to follow His specific will for us as well, especially in regards to those called to the priesthood and relgious life. We need not pray for an increase to these particular vocations but rather for, as Balthasar tells us, "a new generosity to respond to these vocations, which in fact are never lacking but which often go unanswered."