Fathers for Good

Being a Father, Becoming a Saint

Holiness is the great quest, the ultimate goal, that God has set for all of us

By Joseph Pearce

“THE ONLY GREAT TRAGEDY in life is not to become a saint.” These memorable words by the French Catholic writer Léon Bloy should always be on our minds, especially in this month dedicated to all saints and all souls.

We are all called to be saints. This is what is meant by the universal call to holiness, clearly articulated at the Second Vatican Council: “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium, 41). In other words, we are all called to heaven. Therefore, we are not homo sapiens — wise men — unless we are homo viator — pilgrim men. Each of us is on the appointed journey, which is the quest for heaven. This is the goal which has been set for us by our loving Father. He wants us to come to him and has promised that he will give us the help we need to do so.

The problem is that we are not merely homo sapiens and homo viator; we are also homo superbus — proud men. We have inherited original sin, and we often refuse the challenges of the quest so that we can do our own thing and go our own way instead. Each of us is both the child of God who hears the call of the Father and the disobedient child who refuses to heed the call. As the great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn reminded us, the battle between good and evil takes place in each individual human heart. We are all fighting a civil war, which is often very uncivil, with ourselves.

Although some might answer the call of the Father to the priesthood or the religious life, most of us are called to holiness through the sacrament of matrimony. For most Christians, married life is the path to heaven, and parenthood is integral to the pilgrimage. To borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, fatherhood moves us “further up and further in” — further up the purgatorial path to the heavenly summit and further into our relationship with the Father himself. St. John Paul II observed, “In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family” (Familiaris Consortio, 25; cf. Eph 3:15).

Yet parenthood is not the smoothest of paths, nor is it a bed of roses; or, if it is a bed of roses, it is a bed of roses embedded with thorns. It is the way of the cross. It crosses our selfish desires. It makes us cross! It leads us to the crossroads where we need to choose between the pilgrim path of selflessness or the selfish path of pride. One path leads to heaven, and the other to hell. There is no third path.

These crucial truths about parenthood and family life were understood by Blessed Michael McGivney, who, taking on the call to spiritual fatherhood as a priest, sought to serve families in his parish community. The eldest of 13 children, six of whom died young, he knew all about the hardships of family life. He had to postpone his studies for the priesthood to help support his family, and his seminary studies were nearly cut short following the death of his father. Such experiences bred in him a deep desire to strengthen the faith of Catholic men and to help widows support their children following the untimely death of their husbands. This led to his founding of the Knights of Columbus with Catholic men of New Haven, Connecticut. The rest, as they say, is history.

We cannot all leave extraordinary legacies like Blessed Michael McGivney, but we are all called to seek the greatness which is sanctity. In laying down our lives for our families, we can all become saints. All that we need to do is answer the Father’s call, each and every day, by taking up our daily crosses and asking him to help us carry them.

To be or not to be a saint — this is the question. Léon Bloy was right. There is only one great tragedy in life. Let’s keep this in mind by keeping our eyes on heaven. ✢

JOSEPH PEARCE is the author of many books on Catholic literary topics and a member of Msgr. Andrew K. Gwynn Council 1668 in Greenville, S.C. His website is jpearce.co.