I think it was Paul Tillich who said that holiness was not a moral, religious or ethical quality but simply the act of pointing toward God. When I think of the saints I have known that is certainly the case: it was not about them, it about God. We tend to put saints on pedestals, as those who are above us because they never make mistakes. But if the true characteristic if sanctity is being oriented toward God than those who make mistakes are not disqualified. St. Paul reminds us “we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” We don’t need to do anything to be more children of God than we already are. As we know from being a child and watching children mistakes are part of growing up. But the fundamental identity of who was is before God remains the same.
