Do You Want To Be a Saint?

Do you want to be a saint?

How you answer that question is probably a pretty good indication about what Christian tradition you hail from.

If you are a Protestant the question makes no sense. Do I want to be a saint? I'm already a saint! All Christians are saints, right?

But if you are a Catholic then the question makes a lot of sense. Not every Catholic is a saint. Sainthood is aspirational in Catholicism, something attained after a lifetime of spiritual excellence.

To be sure, if you want to be a saint in Catholicism we might wonder about why that might be the case. Such aspirations might not be healthy and good. Sainthood probably shouldn't be a behavioral goal. God should be the goal, sainthood should be a by-product, even an afterthought.

Regardless, there is a difference between Protestantism and Catholicism in this regard. In Protestantism everybody is a saint. In Catholicism sainthood it is something the church might aspire to.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that I wonder if Protestantism doesn't suffer from its democratization of sainthood. Because if everyone is a saint then no one is a saint, at least as Catholics see it. No one steps forward or is put forward as a moral and spiritual exemplar that we might emulate.

More, Protestants don't see holiness as an aspirational goal. Few, if any, Protestants strive to be more holy. But Catholics think like this. Not all Catholics of course, but striving after holiness is a part of the Catholic experience. By contrast, as a Protestant I don't think I've ever woke up wondering how I might become more holy. And if I asked people at my church if they were trying to be more holy I figure I'd get a lot of odd looks.

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