Heroes saving souls; one at a time

Heroes saving souls; one at a time

Did you ever believe that you would be considered a hero one day?  You watch champions in sports and dream of one day becoming just like them.  Or perhaps your desires are in the arts and your spirit is lifted high as the melodies from an operatic singer’s voice puts you in a realm of ecstasy imagining that might be you one day.  Perhaps an occasion to visit a session of congress or even a local governing agency at a legal gathering and think maybe one day I can do that.

As we all mature in life there are times when our future is not always clear as we search for an answer to “what will I do with my life”?  Sometimes the path to fame and fortune may never be revealed in a timely fashion, if ever.  There could be an opportunity towards any one of your aspirations that suddenly appears and the steps towards that dream will begin with hard work and dedication.  What you do with that prominence will depend on the thankfulness you have from your accomplishments.

I want to reminisce about another direction that many who’ve dreamed of reaching a goal as described above found that none of these became a success.  There are many who discovered there are souls who are roaming the streets of major cities with no hope, no family, or no one who cares about them.  

Like the people who dream of fame and fortune and are not sure of their future, so there are people who dream of a meal, a friend who will care, or a hope of change before they die.  For the aspirants who seek and eventually find their direction to success, their counterparts who live on the street or in a tent with nothing to hope for struggle to exist, with many never making it.

We can read about saints who have answered that call from God ignoring the desire of fame and fortune and through divine grace choose to go after that one soul crying out for help; they are not always certain from where it came.  

St. John Bosco is one who heard or felt the call to care for the young who are poor and seemingly unloved.   One day as young John and his mother were walking a priest approached and the boy cried out, “hello Father”  where the priest gave a curt nod to him.  This acknowledgement from the priest caused him to say, “When I grow up, he said to his mother, I’m going to be a priest, and I’ll talk to children all the time, and I’ll do everything for them.”  One thing he said, “It is not enough to love the young; they must know they are loved.”

Don Bosco, as he is called, heard the call from God, took it to heart and became a saint for souls, one at a time.

Some other well known saints who heard the call to serve over the desire to find fame and success;

St. Teresa of Calcutta, once on a train and passing Calcutta vowed to return for the poor in the streets.

St. Faustiina called by Christ to pray for sinners.

St. Jude, who prayed for those who were hopeless.

St. Francis of Padua, who was saved from a terrible battle which promised to make him a martyr, has become a saint of hope for many souls.

Padre Pio whose main thrust was the poor.

How many reading this have felt the call and ignored it thinking it was just a dream.  Even if we have found our quest to reach the heights, listen to your heart.  God may call you in a way you never thought possible.  I know because I heard the call;  Reaching one soul at a time.  

Ralph B. Hathaway, reaching and saving one soul at a time.