I have always loved these words from St. Catherine of Siena, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” We see this on tee shirts, journal covers and I even have it in my email signature.
But what do those words really mean, practically speaking, in our daily lives? I don’t know about you, but I often don’t feel like my ordinary life is setting things on fire.
But then let’s think about starting a fire. We have an old-fashioned wood-burning stove in our kitchen, with no gas starter, so It’s really challenging to get a fire going. We use different types of kindling and patiently feed a few sparks with more wood until it catches on and ignites the bigger logs — which eventually results in a strong blaze … and a nice warm kitchen.
If we look at starting a fire in a spiritual sense —lighting up our souls with prayer, Scripture study, the Sacraments, and acts of charity — over time these habits ignite our hearts with more love for God and neighbor. When the flame of faith is fanned, it catches on to others. The spiritual life takes patience, care and nurturing, like starting a fire; if we don’t stay united to God in this process, the embers of love can quickly fade and die out.
Let’s look at setting the world on fire. Some saints did visibly great things, but most saints are relatively unknown and grew in love (greatness) over the course of a mostly hidden life. They were often of ill health and had to persevere through many obstacles to do God’s will. One thing they had in common was the fire of faith that carried them through their lives and grew into magnificent flames of love by the time they were called to their eternal home.
It seems that setting the world on fire is the result of patiently seeking to be the person God created us to be with our unique mission and circumstances — and persevering through all of it with great love. So that fire is love … and if it is real, the flame of love will grow and ignite others.
A friend of mine died of cancer recently and I had the privilege of visiting her in Hospice before she passed into eternal life. God has given me the grace to be comfortable in a Hospice environment and I love being with the sick and dying near the end of their lives as God is so present there.
My friend told me she loved God and she was grateful to have received Last Rites. Her family was by her side through the entire cancer journey and they had done everything that was medically possible. She said she was at peace, grateful for the loving support of family, friends, and her trusted medical team and she was ready to go home to God.
She was setting the world on fire for all who were touched by her illness and passing. By God’s grace, she was able to do, what we all hope we can do in death … trust in God and be at peace in his embrace as we return home. Her faithful witness was a form of evangelization on her death bed. I believe that the impact of her joyful witness will stay with me forever.
The fire of her love for God was ablaze in her heart, and since our time together, I have shared her story with many people, and now I am sharing it with you. So the fire of her faith continues to burn bright and set others aflame even though she isn’t physically here anymore — all praise and glory to God!
So I think my takeaway is this … setting the world on fire is about being true to what God is individually calling us to do — right here and right now — sharing whatever gifts we have with as much love as we can muster. The example of St. Therese’s ‘Little Way’ challenges us to love the people God places in our ordinary lives and this may be exactly what God is calling us to do to set the world on fire.
Our fire may not be fully visible to anyone except God (many did not truly know St. Therese’s holiness until well after her death), but that doesn’t matter. God sees and loves even a tiny flicker, a small burning ember, and the more we lean on him, the more he fans the flames of love in our hearts. Be who you were meant to be and you will set the world on fire.