St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

West Point Military Academy, just up the Hudson River from New York City, has a beautiful campus. The style of architecture is military Gothic, the grounds are well-groomed and immaculate, and the views of the Hudson River valley can be breathtaking, especially during autumn, when the leaves are changing color.

One of the most impressive aspects of the campus decoration is the monumental bronze statues of famous West Point graduates. All the great American generals are there, in one form or another: McArthur, Eisenhower, Grant... The statues are placed in conspicuous locations, and each hero is depicted in uniform, in a posture that expresses his greatness. They serve as a constant reminder to the young cadets that they are called to greatness, to self-sacrifice, to do worthwhile deeds of valor for the sake of their homeland.

For us Catholic Christians, our heroes are not military or political. Rather, they are those who have done great deeds of valor for the sake of our eternal homeland: The Kingdom of Christ, the Church.  They have not necessarily received exceptional natural talent from God, developing and using that talent energetically, responsibly, and courageously, as military and political heroes have.

Rather, they are the ones who have let God tend the garden of their souls, as the First Reading puts it. They welcomed God's grace through the sacraments, prayer, and obedience to God's will, as explained by the Church and a well-formed conscience. And as a result, truly supernatural virtues took root, grew, and bore fruit in their lives. This is why images of the saints abound in Catholic churches and homes, just as those bronze statues decorate West Point. Keeping the saints in mind, studying and contemplating their example, can give direction, hope, and energy to our lives, just as the statues of great generals do for the West Point Cadets. It may start grudgingly, but soon you’ll do it willingly.

Imagine someone coming into this church right now and conducting a survey, asking each of us the same question: "What do you most want to be?" Think for a moment how you would answer. How many of us would say: "I want to be a saint"? Probably not enough of us, and that's because we don't know about the saints. We have accepted the devil's lie that tells us saints are boring, unnatural, and out of touch. Not true! Holiness doesn't make people less human; holiness alone makes them fully human!

Pope Benedict stressed this: "...holiness is not a luxury, it is not a privilege for the few, an impossible goal for an ordinary person; it is actually the common destiny of all men called to be children of God, the universal vocation of all the baptized." (Pope Benedict XVI's General Audience, 20 August 2008) We are all called to be saints! Maybe dramatic saints or maybe "normal saints" that Pope Benedict describes like this:

"Their example testifies that only when we are in touch with the Lord can we be filled with His peace and His joy and be able to spread serenity, hope and optimism everywhere." (Pope Benedict XVI's General Audience, 20 August 2008)

That is what holiness brings us. If each of us were simply to read one biography of a favorite saint each year, we would soon be inspired by the "supernatural fascination," the sheer beauty of holiness, and the saint's example would shed light on our own life. If each of us spoke in prayer frequently to our patron saint, whose name we took at confirmation, it would serve as a spiritual compass, keeping us from getting lost and disoriented by the difficulties and noise of life in a fallen world.

These are powerful methods of spiritual growth. (Quotations are from Pope Benedict XVI's General Audience, 20 August 2008)