The Secret Sauce of the Saints

The Secret Sauce of the Saints

Often as children, we were asked, “What are you going to do when you grow up?”
Will you be a lawyer, a doctor, a fireman, a policeman, the president?
Most likely no one ever asked you, “Who are you going to be?”

But isn’t this the real question?

When we meet people for the first time, we often ask them “What do you do?”
But isn’t the question we want answered is, “Who are you?”

We are all searching for our true self, our true person… how do we discover this God-given identity?

If your identity leads and determines your destiny; if becoming who you really are—who God has created you and destined you to be—will inspire you to set the world ablaze, it seems that one of your most important goals ought to be to discover who you truly are—who you are meant to be.

To discover who we really are, to discover who God has designed and destined us to be, can be one of life’s greatest challenges.

There is a way.

The paradoxical secret to discovering yourself is obtained by giving yourself away.
“Man can only discover himself by means of being a sincere gift” (GS 24).
Or as Jesus said, “He who loses his life will gain it” (Matthew 16:25).

In other words, your identity is not about what you have, but rather what you give.
In giving, you receive your identity and the seed of your destiny.

To give something, you must possess that something.
To give yourself to another, you must possess yourself… and allow God to “possess” you.

There exist many people who have accumulated great wealth, fame and achievement…
and are little more than black holes of selfishness, imploding upon themselves and sucking the very life from the people around them.
Some of the saddest, most miserable people are those who are attached to their possessions and their pride.

The truth is that the more you give yourself authentically to another, the more you will be confirmed by others in your gift of self, and when you are confirmed for your giftedness, you discover more of who you are: your talents, abilities, and mission.

This is the secret sauce of the saints.
Whether it was Mother Teresa, Maximillian Kolbe, Mother Cabrini, the saint has the key attribute of not “saving themselves” like one saves money in the bank but spending themselves on others; and spending themselves for the other; others glorified them and God in them.

And eventually, you will be so unlike this world, radically different, resilient and bulletproof against humanity’s fleeting opinions.
You will no longer spend your life trying to be like everyone else.
Unfettered from human respect, you will be who you are, and you will set the world ablaze with God’s divine power and presence.