Our purpose is eternity in heaven, and Chuck Neff wants to help Relevant Radio^® listeners reach that goal through spiritual direction each day. Neff was joined on The Inner Life^® by Father Matthew Widder, priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, to talk about being a saint in today’s world. Fr. Widder said, “Being a saint is the mission of the Church; the reason why the Church exists is to produce saints.”

How we can be saints in everyday life? “Becoming a saint really is a life or death mission, because a saint has eternal life with Christ,” said Fr. Widder. “Of course we know of the thousands of saints who have officially been canonized but we also have All Saints’ Day, because all of us are called to be saints, and a saint is anyone who is in heaven with Jesus Christ. So it really is a life or death proposition to us.”

“This is the very reason that we exist—to become saints. And we look at the pathway of becoming a saint, and it’s being open to the Lord’s mercy, responding to God’s invitation. And we look around, we look at our canonized saints and we see a lot of different examples of what it means to be a saint: from priests to sisters, to mothers, to fathers, to businessmen, to lawyers, you know there’s all kinds of different examples of that path to Jesus Christ,” explained Fr. Widder.

He spoke to listeners to explain how a saint thinks, saying, “wherever we are right now, the first [question] is: how can I make this current situation holy? How can I sanctify it by my presence? … Wherever we are, whether we’re listening in an office, whether we’re listening in the car or on an app, we’re thinking, ‘how can I make this situation that I’m in right now, holy?’ And that’s the way a saint thinks.”

“I wish I thought like that more often,” commented Neff.

Fr. Widder replied, “we’re thinking, more or less, about survival here and now, not survival for eternity. And I think we need to change our perception, and to think, ‘How does what I’m doing right now impact my eternal destiny?’”

All you holy men and women, pray for us!