Striving for Sanctity

When we hear or read that "we are all called to holiness", most of us cringe and say, "Well, I'm no Mother Teresa, or Francis of Assisi, so I guess that call is not for me." But the call is "for me." Me, as I am, who I am, even with the parts I don't like about myself. God is not calling me to be someone else, but to accept and love completely the creation he made me, as he does. It would do us a world of good if we put ourselves in God's shoes and looked at ourselves with his eyes. He created us, he knows us better than we know ourselves, he doesn't reject what he has made, rather he loves these creatures of his with an everlasting and unconditional love. Accepting ourselves as God accepts us is the beginning of sanctity for we then we present him with our true self, not a false self, not a self that is an imitation of another. Once a very holy Sister said to me as I asked her help in learning to pray, "God does not relate to ghosts. You must present him with the real you, not a fake." As well as celebrating Wednesday of the first week of Advent, we are also remembering the Apostle Andrew who left his fishing nets to follow Jesus. If we can leave behind our false self, or our low esteem of ourselves, we can more readily follow Jesus and answer the call to holliness.
Bro. Rene