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Sainthood: Age is No Barrier

During a general audience in St. Peter’s Square in April 2011, Pope Benedict XVI enumerated various types of holiness. He reiterated to the youth present that their ultimate calling as Christians was to become saints.

Pope Benedict went on to explain the holiness to which each Christian is called: “Holiness is the fullness of Christian life, a life in Christ; it consists in our being united to Christ, making our own his thoughts and actions, and conforming our lives to his. As such, it is chiefly the work of the Holy Spirit who is poured forth into our hearts through Baptism.”

Are we all called to be “saints”?

We can find a clear answer in the YouCat, the Catechism for the Youth. It states: “Yes. The purpose of our life is to be united with God in love and to correspond entirely to God’s wishes. We should allow God “to live his life in us” (Mother Teresa). That is what it means to be holy: a “saint.”

The citation continues: “Every man asks himself the question: Who am I and why am I here, how do I find myself? Faith answers: Only in holiness does man become that for which God created him.

Only in holiness does man find real harmony between himself and his Creator. Holiness, however, is not some sort of self-made perfection; rather, it is union with the incarnate love that is Christ. Anyone who gains new life in this way finds himself and becomes holy.

Inspired by this call to holiness, this September issue of New City magazine would like to present three youngsters whose lives have been a source of inspiration to many all over the world.

They are Blessed Chiara “Luce” Badano, an Italian teenager and two Filipinos youths: the recently declared “Servant of God” Darwin Ramos, from Tulay ng Kabataan community of Cubao, Quezon City, and 15-year-old Chiara Bella of Aklan who courageously and joyfully faced death last June 2019.

With their lives, one can really see that, indeed, age is no barrier to a life of holiness.
We are reminded of what Pope Francis wrote about holiness in Gaudete et Exsultate: “To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious.

We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love, and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves.” (GE 14)

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