Along the journey towards the greater, there are many small, daily steps to better understand oneself, God, and others. This is one of my “daily steps”.
It’s #AllSaintsDay and my oldest gets to dress up today as a saint. Last year, I presented a few options and he chose St. Francis because he loves animals. This year, he said I could decide.⠀
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So, of course, I chose #StIgnatiusofLoyola. ⠀
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This morning, he had all sorts of questions – “Why the sword?” was the first. So, I told him about St. Ignatius laying down his sword and picking up the cross to follow Christ. He asked lots of questions about the cannonball that struck Ignatius’ leg as well and had a slew of advice for Ignatius on how he could’ve avoided being hurt in the first place. I tried valiantly to explain that his injury turned out to be a good thing. He marinated on that for a bit.⠀
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Then he said “Mom, when I grow up I want to do something that will protect the world.”⠀
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He paused and said “But mom, I just don’t know what side I should be on to protect the world…”⠀
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Taken aback by the magnitude of that, I breathed in and replied “The side of love. Always the side of love.”⠀
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On this #AllSaintsDay , let us remember that the saints were not perfect people. They were human beings, filled with imperfection who just, at some point in their lives, went over to the side of love and changed the world.⠀
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May we have open eyes today to see the saints walking among us, even the saint inside ourselves.⠀
