Our Blessed Lord loves me, with all my faults and failings, and has marked me out for the special graces which will make me a saint, a big one if I like.

COMMENT: “If I like”…What telling words from Fr Doyle today. God loves us, and He wants us to imitate Him more closely. But he will not force us. We are called to be saints and to co-operate with His will for us. But we have to want to do so. God will not force us – He will not make us holy against our will. We must co-operate.

Perhaps we, too, can learn from this. Even though He wants us to be better, God does not force us to become saints. Similarly, we cannot force others to believe or to practice their faith. Fr Doyle knew this and always approached others with gentleness and kindness, despite his burning zeal for their salvation. He did not force or condemn. As St Francis de Sales used to say, a spoon of honey catches more flies than a barrel of vinegar.