St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Sun City shared a letter from the pastor on the steps to sainthood.

“The saints are those who loved God with all the hearts, souls and minds while on earth and now share their Heavenly reward,” Fr. Kilian McCaffrey said in the church's Nov. 1 bulletin. “We remember Jesus’ words from last week, and we see the continuity in our readings in how we are to know, love and serve God with all we have been given by God.”

The saints can be a great source of inspiration for us as we are able to see the ways in which they, human beings, served God in extraordinary ways. 

As Catholics, we believe that we are all called to holiness and called to be saints. There are five specific steps to becoming a saint. 

First, the local bishop begins an investigation into the person’s life and looks into the type of life that they lived. This can be carried out while the person is alive or after they have died.

“If the bishop finds them to be worthy of being a saint, then he submits the information that he gathered to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints,” McCaffrey said.

Second, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints may choose to reject or accept the application and do their own investigation. The person will be called a Servant of God if the application is accepted. 

Third, if the Congregation approves the candidate, they may decide to declare the person to have lived a “heroically virtuous life.” While not a guarantee that the person is in heaven, it does mean that they sought out holiness while on earth; and if this is found to be true, they can be called Venerable.

Fourth, the person is determined to be in heaven if there are miracles that have been carried out through their intercession. Miracles are verified by being scientifically unexplainable, and this is carried out by a panel of doctors and theologians and confirmed by the pope.

Finally, a second miracle must have been done in order for someone to be called a Saint.

Let us always strive to become saints in our earthly pilgrimages.