If God made us to become saints, how can we do so?

Q. If God made us to become saints, how can we do so?

A. This is a question we should all ask ourselves every day of our lives!  However, the answer to this question is never ending.

It’s true, we are made to be saints.  God made us to be one with Him forever in Heaven.  We call this holiness, sanctity, or saintliness. But how do we do so?

First, we seek the truth.  Truth is discovered by faith.  Faith is not just believing in something we cannot know for sure.  It’s not just wishful thinking. Faith is knowledge. Certain knowledge.  And we ultimately obtain faith by allowing God to speak to our inner conscience and reveal that which is true.  This happens when two things are present. First, we engage our minds in the truth such as in the Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the teachings of the saints, etc.  Second, reading the truth is not enough.  We also need the “gift” of faith, meaning that when we hear the truth, God needs to confirm this truth as “true” in our conscience. God’s voice first revealed the truth through the Scripture, the Church or the saint, but then God tells us, interiorly, that this is His Truth.  When this happens, we must believe. When this happens, we are gifted with faith. We know, with deep interior certitude, that which God revealed.

Second, this process of coming to know the truth in faith is strengthened by prayer.  When we pray, it’s like adding fuel to a fire. The fire, which is faith, grows in intensity.  As it grows in intensity, we grow in faith.

Third, we must live what we come to know through faith.  This is an act of our will. When we choose to live the faith we come to know, we grow in charity, holiness and saintliness.  We become saints.

Though this is a greatly simplified explanation of the path to holiness, hopefully it points you in the right direction.

(Taken from My Catholic Faith)