“…until all of us come…to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (NRSV, Ephesians 4:13).
Before Our Lord called his disciples, they had only one thing in common – they were steady and industrious men.
At one extreme there was Simon the Zealot – a member of the fanatical Jewish resistance against the Romans; and at the other Matthew the tax collector who collaborated with King Herod Antipas, the vassal of the Roman Emperor.
And not only did they differ in politics, they also differed in character; and yet for all that, each of them saw, existing in Christ, his own good qualities perfectly expressed, and not only those qualities but also the other virtues which each admired but had yet to acquire for himself.
To take St Matthew – as a smart business man he could quickly spot what was crooked and what was straight. Yet even he was deceived by Judas Iscariot to the very end. But Our Lord, whose judgement in detecting the false from the true was unerring, was not deceived for a moment. As St John said, “Jesus…knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone” (NRSV, John 2:24,25). He “knew from the first who…was the one that would betray him” (NRSV, John 6:64).
On the other hand, Matthew’s occupation had made it virtually impossible for him to be honest; and yet in Our Lord he saw the quality of integrity completely flawless. Even Our Lord’s enemies admitted, “Teacher, we know that you are true…” (RSV, Mark 12:14).
It was the same with those fiery and explosive brothers, James and John, whom Our Lord aptly nick-named 'Sons of Thunder'.
Their great fault was lack of self-control and on one occasion they would gladly have had a whole Samaritan village wiped out by fire from heaven as a punishment for the unfriendly reception which its inhabitants had shown to Our Lord.
And so it was appropriately St John who saw the virtue of self-control perfectly exemplified in the palace of the high priest on Good Friday morning, when Our Lord was struck across the face; but all he did was calmly to say to the officer who struck him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” (NRSV, John 18:23).
And yet the two brothers knew that for all his magnificent self-control he was consumed with an enthusiasm, far exceeding their own, for the honour of his Father in heaven – as witness, for example, his cleansing of the Temple Court when the disciples were irresistibly reminded of the verse in the Psalm, “Zeal for your house will consume me” (NRSV, John 2:17).
So too, against Peter’s frankness and instability could be set Our Lord’s sheer sincerity and unbreakable fortitude.
And all the Apostles soon discovered that in becoming like Christ they became the sort of people they were meant to be. The reason for this was that Jesus is God the Son who, in the words of the Creed, came down from heaven and was made man – not a man but man; not so much one of us as one with us.
He took our human nature in its fullness, and that is why each of us can see his or her best self in him. This is particularly evident in the saints, in those who have approximated in character to him, whether they lived in the Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages or in our own time; whether they have been kings or paupers, learned or unlearned: men and women, boys and girls, old and young, all have discovered that as the character of Christ was formed in them, so they found their best selves in him.
Yet in becoming like Christ they did not become like one another except in their utter goodness which was not of this world. Christ’s personality was not substituted for theirs but theirs was raised to the level of his.
According to their dispositions, some of the saints have been quiet and studious, others irrepressibly outgoing; some cautious, others impulsive; some able administrators, others retiring and unsuited for public service.
What then, is the special quality which makes people saints in spite of their very varied talents and personalities and place in life?
First, they believe in God with an absolute conviction which shapes the way they think and the way they live. They rely on him as we rely on the invisible air around us, without which we know we cannot stay alive. To be without God – to be deprived of the consciousness of his Presence and love – would be for them a horror of great darkness of the kind that engulfed Our Lord’s soul on the Cross on Good Friday.
The second quality that makes a saint is an intense and burning love for Our Blessed Lord, a love so consuming that it can willingly bear all trials, all troubles and if necessary all torments for his sake. For the heart of the saint is filled with a love so strong and so deep that in the words of St Thomas Aquinas, no unworthy thought can drag it downwards, no tribulation can wear it out, and no unworthy purpose tempt it aside. (1)
And the third quality is a practical love and compassion for fellow human beings. The saint is ever ready to play the part of the Good Samaritan; to spend himself or herself in bringing comfort and a helping hand to those in need or trouble or distress: in a word, to be the unimpeded channel of Our Lord’s own love and compassion for suffering humanity.
The minds of saints are caught up into the mind of Christ, their hearts are united to the heart of Christ, their souls are filled full with the Spirit of Christ. Can we wonder, then, that the Blessed Saints in the world to come have already entered into the joy of their Lord?
And make no mistake, we too must become like them, if not in this life at any rate in the next, before we can ever share his joy with them.
So let us encourage one another and run with perseverance the race that is set before us, pressing on towards our glorious goal – to see God face to face and to enjoy for ever, with the Blessed Saints, the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love him (see 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 12:1; Philippians 3:14; 1 Corinthians 2:9).
Reference
1. See Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas:
http://www.thomas-aquinas.org/about/prayers/