Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J. On Making Modern Saints

So this "sainthood project challenge" sounds great and all... But I imagine some people are asking, "How am I supposed to do this?" Living like a saint even for just a few weeks can seem pretty impossible after you've tried it for a few days. Or in my case for a few hours.

"The saints weren't the perfect people. They were the people who just never gave up." Never giving up the quest to live totally for God and others... Never giving up on opening our hearts to the grace we need from God to do so... One day at a time.

That's where the Apostleship of Prayer might help out those doing the Sainthood Project Challenge. Our worldwide group goes back to the 1840's, and we've been called the "pope's prayer group." We're all about helping each other to live our faith, in daily life, one day at a time. We encourage everyone to pray a "daily offering" prayer, offering each day to God - all our prayers, works, joys and sufferings of each day. We offer it all for the intentions of people praying the same prayer with us around the world, and for special intentions the pope gives directly to the AoP each month.

Sometimes we can separate our "prayer life" from our "daily life" too much. Yeah, we need to take time just to pray each day. But with the daily offering prayer, what you say to God is: "When I finish praying, I know I'm not leaving you behind. I know you are present when I go to school, to work, when I'm with my friends and family, when I do good for others, and even when it seems like I'm messing up this whole sainthood thing. So I offer this whole day to you - take it, Lord, and in your grace make my mess something beautiful."

I don't know about you, but that's the kind of offering I need to make each day. Check out more about the daily offering prayer and other aspects of the AoP at: http://www.apostleshipofprayer.org/teenagers.html.

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