A Jesuit Catholic University
in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1878

[58] Acts 1:1-11;  Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9;  Eph 1:17-23

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

“I’m not a saint.”

I’ve never really paused to consider the significance of this unique phrase a part of our modern lexicon. I’ve used it more than my fair share of times, exclusively to dismiss some character flaw of mine as insurmountable, or otherwise unavoidably linked to who I am.

But as I undertook the journey to confirmation this past year, I found myself rather enamored with the lives of the saints. And let me tell you, there weren’t any saints.

St. Ignatius, before turning to a life of God (ironically by reading about the lives of the saints, but I’ll save that for another time) was a soldier, prone to vanity, and a well-documented fan of the lady-folk. In fact, he had part of his broken leg readjusted (in the most painful way) because he was afraid he would look bad in his tights. Certainly, this man was no saint.

St. Paul is another, as a man who actively murdered Christians who turned to God in the desert. St. Augustine, a womanizer who once famously uttered the prayer “God grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.”

Each of these individuals, like us, has their flaws. In fact, we come from a better place than many of these men and women whom we revere. But what we forget when we say “I’m not a saint” is not that these men and women were born with some innate sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, or that they somehow transcend their humanity in their life, but something else altogether.

These people responded to God. They listened when he called on them to change or to act. They put aside their human insufficiencies and embraced their Lord, something that we are called to do each and every day, as well. The opportunity is there for us as much as any of the saints, but it is up to us to welcome and live God’s message to us.

So, perhaps a slight change is in order for this phrase.

“I’m not a saint. But I’m working on it.”