Mother Teresa of Calcutta, one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, is set to become a Catholic saint on Sunday in an open-air Mass led by Pope Francis.
Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who promoted her sainthood cause, said on Thursday in Vatican that hundreds of thousands of faithful are expected to attend the canonisation service to be led by Pope Francis in front of St. Peter’s basilica.
He said that her canonisation is one of the highlights of Francis’ Jubilee of Mercy. “Affectionately called the “saint of the gutters” during her lifetime, Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be made an official saint of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, just 19 years after her death.
For one to be made a Sainy by the catholic church, people must prove that prayers made ‘through’ her were actually answered. Is that Biblical?
The Bible speaks of saints – people who are sanctified, made holy by the blood of Jesus through faith in Him.
Paul, in his letters, addresses the saints at various cities in the Asian regions he evangelised. An outstanding characteristic of these saints is that they were living, although he also spoke of saints whom he said were ‘sleeping’, that is, had died in Christ, and were awaiting the resurrection of the Church.
The key truth, though, is that they became saints whilst they were living, and not after they had died.
Interestingly, Paul even addresses the saints in Rome.
Romans 1:7-12
“To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established–that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”
Clearly Paul is writing to saints who are alive, whom he hopes to visit soon, whom he is praying for, whom he longs to see to encourage. To the Corinthians he writes “All the saints greet you”, speaking of the saints he was with at the time.
Ephesians 4:11-13
He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…
We are made saints through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is nothing of oursleves. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus through believing on Him, the work of His cross and resurrection. Sainthood means to be made holy. Sanctification is holiness, but not our own holiness through our own works, but His holiness through faith in Him accredited to us as result of His grace, or favour, towards us.
We cannot become saints by our own goodness or works. If we did we might boast on our own works, or holiness, or even on the greatness of others as more holy than than others, which is what the Roman Catholic Church, in essence, has done.
Read how how unbiblical this doctrine is.
Discussion about this post