An Easy Way To Become A Saint

by Paul O'Sullivan

"Many think it is practically impossible to be a saint—or at least extremely difficult. We offer our readers in this booklet many easy but infallible means of reaching a high degree of sanctity.” With these encouraging words Fr. Paul O’Sullivan begins An Easy Way to Become a Saint—a very optimistic book which shows how an “ordinary” Catholic can become a great saint without doing anything extraordinary—just by using the many opportunities for holiness that to most people lie hidden in each day.

The “secret” is to love God—since one act of love is worth a thousand acts of any other virtue. Fr. O’Sullivan gives us the keys to obtaining love for God—even if we feel cold and dry toward Him now. He shows that every act of love of God in this world is of priceless value and will have an eternal reward. Fr. O’Sullivan points out that each day most of us overlook many rich opportunities to increase this love and make great strides in holiness; he shows us how to capture these opportunities and use them to please God and to gain immense rewards for eternity.

An Easy Way to Become a Saint is a book of simple, practical steps that—if we follow them—are certain to make us Saints. And it is written with an assurance of the success of these methods that is totally convincing and infectious. Fr. O’Sullivan’s readers simply cannot come away from his books without being convinced he is right. The immense popularity of all his books rests in this very quality—that we simply cannot read him without imbibing his holy assurance and complete confidence in the truth of what he is saying.

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Christian, Prayer, Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Father Paul O'Sullivan, O.P., was born on February 7, 1871. After studying in Dublin, he went on to Rome, where he was ordained a Dominican. He then pursued a Lectorate degree for theology, which in turn prepared him for his future career in writing simple, profound books and preaching to the faithful. Father O'Sullivan also founded the "Catholic Printing Press" and established the Rosary Association, one of several associations he created with the Church's permission. He wrote on and had a great devotion to St. Philomena as well. He died in 1958, on the Feast of the Presentation.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the seventh volume from Father Paul that I have read, so far this year. I picked the first book, The Wonders of the Mass, up because it was promoted by TAN books in an email blast. They were promoting a bundle of books by Father Paul O'Sullivan. I know I have seen the covers before. After reading the first one I picked up a few more. And I realizes I should have grabbed the whole bundle. Each of the books I have read so far has been great. And this is another excellent read. The shorter description of this book is:

“A very optimistic book showing how an "ordinary" Catholic can become a great saint without ever doing anything "extraordinary"--just by using the many opportunities for holiness that to most people lie hidden in each day. Written with an assurance of success that is totally convincing and infectious. Many easy but infallible means of reaching great sanctity.”

And the chapters are:

Publisher's Note
Foreword: An Easy Way to Become a Saint

1. Two Kinds of Saints
2. How to Love God
3. The Wonderful Things God Has Done for Us
4. God's Greatest Proof of Love
5. The Passion
6. After His Ascension
7. We Must Do Everything for the Love of God
8. The Principal Duties of the Day
9. Reading
10. Meditation

How to Go to Confession
The Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart

This is a shorter read. And about the middle of the pack of Father Paul’s books I have read to date. It comes in at 82 pages for the eBook and only 120 for the print edition. It is a very good book. That is well written. It has excellent spiritual advice. One of the chapters that had a great impact on me was Chapter 9 Reading. Father Paul states:

“We have pointed out that the reason for so little sanctity in many souls is not weakness or malice, but ignorance. Spiritual reading dispels this ignorance and helps us to feel all the charm and consolation of God's blessed love.

Every Catholic should without fail make spiritual reading daily for ten or fifteen minutes. The neglect of this duty is disastrous.”

He makes some recommendations about reading:

Read books that appeal to you.
Pray before reading.
Read your book not once but many times.

This section also has a quote or summary of several of Father Paul’s books, as well as makes reference to several other good options.

I believe I have now read all the books from TAN that are currently in print by Father Paul. There appears to be two other volumes that do not seem to be in print. Which I believe is a great pity. If they are anywhere as good as this one or the others I have read, it is a great loss that they are not still available.

Father Paul writes in an easy and engaging way. It took everything I had to not consume his books back to back. Another fantastic read from the pen of Father Paul O’Sullivan. This book helps us realize the call to be saints, or as Matthew Kelly always puts it “To become the best version of ourselves.”. It is an excellent volume that any Catholic would benefit from reading. I highly recommend it.

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Father Paul O'Sullivan.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2021 Catholic Reading Plan!

[Rebecca Tabish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enlightening book by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan! Fr. Paul O'Sullivans books are quick, easy to read and easy to comprehend! His books are for Catholics of all ages to read, enjoy and take the things he says to heart! When we love God with our whole hearts, spend time in prayer, offer up our sufferings, our joys, pains and grievances throughout the day, be sorry for our sins, attend mass with all our attention and focus solely on God and honor Him alone it is possible for us to become great saints! ❤

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Our hearts were made expressly to love Him, just as our eyes were made to see, our ears to hear. Surely there can be no difficulty in doing that for which we were expressly made.
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To be a saint is to do all our actions for love of God.
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Thus another infallible and easy way to become a saint is to do all we do for love of God.
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our every thought, word and act give God pleasure and obtain for us great merit, if only we do them for love of Him.
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what we most need is an intelligent grasp of our divinely beautiful and all-wise Religion, one which will secure for us not only a high degree of holiness but the greatest possible measure of happiness.
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true holiness gives us immense joy, consolation and strength.
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Extraordinary saints are raised up by God for some extraordinary mission, and to these God gives extraordinary means to carry out that mission.
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What impressed the Saint most was that they loved God very simply but very sincerely. God was the great reality in their lives. They did all their actions for love of Him. They performed their daily duties, seeing God in all they did. They accepted what happened to them, joys as well as sorrows, as coming directly from His hand.
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Three things the Angel bade them do, viz., to pray devoutly, to hate sin and to offer to God with patience the sufferings the Almighty would be pleased to send them, this for His greater glory and for the salvation of souls.
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The first, the easiest and the most certain of all means to become a saint is to love God. We cannot possibly do anything holier, anything more pleasing to Him or anything more meritorious for ourselves.
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He told her that one act of love gives Him more glory and more pleasure than a thousand horrible blasphemies give Him pain!
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HOW CAN WE ACQUIRE THE LOVE OF GOD? First of all by prayer . Let us ask God every day and in every prayer we ever say to
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make us love Him. Let us offer every good act we do that He may give us this, the greatest of all graces, His blessed love.
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let us use and enjoy our faith and thus anticipate the happiness of Heaven.
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When one hears that he has inherited a great fortune, the news fills him at once with delight. He does not wait until the fortune is placed in his hands. Let us do likewise and begin to enjoy an anticipation of the immense, unbounded joys that await us in our Father's home.
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There is still something more thrilling that should fill us to overflowing with love for God, viz., that God loves us with a personal, intimate, unbounded love.
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To love God is to be a saint, and the more we love God, the greater saints we shall be.
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If we know God, we must love Him. Therefore, we must do all we can to know God and fully to understand all the wonderful things that He has done for us.
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The love of all the mothers who ever lived is not equal to the tenderness and love of God when He holds us in His "arms."
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We have two great faculties like those of God, our intellect and free will. He planted, too, in our inmost being, a craving for Him that nothing else can satisfy, so jealous is He of our love.
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The baptismal water was poured on our heads; we were bathed in the Precious Blood of Jesus, the same that was shed for us on Calvary.
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Though we may think that our troubles come from an enemy or from some other cause or by chance, we
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may be sure that nothing happens to us that God does not will.
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OUR ANGEL GUARDIAN One of the most marvelous dispensations of God's Providence is the fact that He has given to each one of us a special Angel to watch over us. At the moment of our birth God calls one of His glorious Princes, one of His mighty Angels, and bids this Angel guard and guide, defend and protect us. From that moment, this mighty Angel gives us all his loving care. He never leaves us, night or day. His duty after loving God is to love us. He devotes all his intelligence, all his strength, all his care to shield us from hurt and harm. We can form no idea of the evils and dangers he saves us from, the countless great favors he has done us and is doing us every day. Not content to use all his own power to help us, he is constantly praying for us to God.
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We are in one way more privileged than the Angels themselves, for God never became an Angel; He never took the Angelic Nature; He never raised it up to the dignity of the Godhead, as He did our human nature.
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Let us have boundless confidence in God's mercy! Nothing pleases Him more than to
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pardon us, to purify us, to give us His friendship.
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Why then did Our Sweet Lord suffer such pain and degradation? Simply to prove the infinite sincerity of His love for us.
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"By our sins," the Apostle tells us, "we crucify again the Son of God and make a mockery of Him."
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Why do not our hearts burn with love of Him? Because we do not trouble to think on the Passion; we do not ponder on it; we do not love it.
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We honor the Passion: 1. By making the Sign of the Cross . We make the Sign of the Cross very often; let us make it slowly and reverently. Made reverently, it gives great honor to God.
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each time we make the Sign of the Cross, a) We offer the Passion and death of Jesus Christ to the Eternal Father, b) We thank Our Lord for dying for us on the Cross, c) We offer the infinite merits of the Passion for our own souls and for the salvation of the world.
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2. By repeating often the Holy Name of Jesus.
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3. By kissing our crucifix
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4. By saying the Five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary,
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5. By making the Way of the Cross
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6. An excellent and most meritorious way of honoring the Passion is by offering all our sufferings, pains and troubles in union with the sufferings of Our Lord. This gives our sufferings an indescribable value and obtains for us strength and patience to bear them patiently.
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7. By studying the Passion, that is, by reading some books on the Passion.
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8. Hearing and offering Mass is the best of all means of honoring the Passion because the Mass is the Passion. It has the same value and brings us the same graces as the Sacrifice of Calvary did.
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The Mass is not an imitation of Calvary; it is the same Sacrifice as Calvary, though in an unbloody manner.
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Devotion to the Passion gives intense pleasure to Our Lord. Want of devotion to the Passion wounds His Sacred Heart most deeply.
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He is not content with our service, our adoration; He asks us, above all, for our love, He asks us to love Him with all our heart and soul, with all our strength and mind.
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"Whether you eat or whether you drink, or whatever else you do, do all for Our Lord Jesus Christ." There are no acts more material, more necessary, than eating and drinking. Therefore, St. Paul mentions these to show us that we must do everything for the love of God.
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form the intention of offering your every action for the love of God. This makes your every work meritorious. All your acts give pleasure and glory to God.
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The first act of every good Christian in the morning is to fall on his knees and make his Morning Offering. It can be done in this wise: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the most pure hands of Mary, I offer Thee all the prayers, works and sufferings, all the actions of this day and of all my life, in union with the Masses being offered all over the world, for the intentions of Thy Sacred Heart and
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for the Apostleship of Prayer. Every breath I draw, every beating of my heart, every glance of my eyes, every step I take, every single act I do, I wish to be an act of love for Thee."
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from time to time during the day, we renew it by saying briefly: "All for You, dear Lord."
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All the saints and holy writers attach the gravest importance to the Morning Offering.
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When we pray, Almighty God gives us all His attention.
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Two things we do in prayer: We offer God our love and adoration, as the Angels do in Heaven, and we ask Him for all we need.
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our prayers are the expression of our filial love for our dear Heavenly Father, they are our loving homage and adoration to our Creator.
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Devotion to Our Lady is looked on by the Saints as a sure guarantee of our eternal salvation.
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Why this universal and extraordinary love for the Rosary? Because by it we deliver ourselves from every danger and obtain every grace and blessing.
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the surest of all means of becoming holy is by assisting at daily Mass and receiving Holy Communion.
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Multitudes of Angels stand around the priest and offer our prayers to God.
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If we work in this spirit, every moment of labor is a meritorious penance.
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A safe rule to follow is to arise from table before being fully satisfied, but rather with an inclination to eat more.
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suffering is a very great grace. Our suffering is a share, a small but most valuable share, in the Passion of Our Dear Lord.
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The easiest and best way of thanking Him is to offer our daily crosses and trials for love of Him.
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The secret is to suffer with patience and serenity. Then suffering loses all its sting, all its bitterness.
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suffering borne patiently brings out all the beautiful traits of our character. It refines us as fire purifies and refines gold.
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the priceless graces and rewards which our sufferings should bring us are lost if suffering is borne badly.
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Suffering, well borne, makes us saints.
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Our Lord Himself tells us why so few become holy, why so few become saints. "The whole world," He says, "is gone astray because no one thinks in his heart."
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This Religion, if only properly understood, will help us to overcome all our sins, all our defects, and it will make us solidly happy and really holy.
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Those who know how to meditate on death are no longer afraid of it, and moreover, they are sure to have happy deaths. "Think of your last end and you shall never sin," are God's own words.
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The greatest happiness anyone can have on this earth is to have a good friend, a true friend, a friend who can and is ready to help him. God is really and truly our Friend in the truest sense of that word. He is our most loving Father, a most tender Father. Never was there a father or mother on this Earth who loved a child as God loves us.
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The only reason why we do not love God is that we do not meditate; we do not see how
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good God is; we do not pray to God to help us to love Him.
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we cannot hear Mass properly nor receive Holy Communion devoutly unless we meditate.
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meditation is easy, is pleasant and brings us graces and blessings that we otherwise shall never get.
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Meditation is like a kind and good friend who teaches us, advises us, encourages us. This friend is in reality the Holy Ghost, who enlightens our understanding and strengthens our wills and gives us His graces and gifts, as He gave them to the Apostles.
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"Read a little, think a little, pray a little, apply the truths to yourself, make your resolution."
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Our morning and evening prayers, if well said, save us from countless evils and obtain for us countless blessings.
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when praying we are talking to God personally, intimately, really. God is looking at us, giving us all His attention, ready to give us all we need.
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our prayer is a pleasure, for we know that it is pleasing to God and that it is bringing us great graces.
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We must pray with the fullest confidence, for the greater our confidence, the greater will be the graces we receive. We must pray with humility. God loves the humble and gives them what they ask in rich abundance.
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Every act of the love of God is of priceless value and will have an eternal reward.
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we can and should do everything for love of God.
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That is just what St. Paul tells us: "Whatever you do, in word or work, whether you eat or whether you drink, do all in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ."
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He mystically dies for us every day in the Mass and offers up His sufferings and death for us. Every Mass has exactly the same value as the death of Our Lord on Calvary!
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Our Lord tells us, "Learn of Me to be meek and humble of heart, and you shall find peace to your souls."
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Confession is one of the greatest and easiest of all means that God has given us to become Saints.
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He left us some especial and all-powerful means to overcome sin and temptation. That means is Confession.
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God meant it to be a divine help to overcome our weakness, our inclinations to evil. He meant it to be an immense consolation in all our troubles and trials.
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why confess to a priest, to a man like ourselves? Because God in His infinite sweetness saw how much our human hearts seek comfort, and therefore, by an act of infinite power and wisdom, He has given men this divine, omnipotent power of pardoning sin and comforting, consoling and helping sinners to become good.
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Confession represents not only a personal benefit, but a
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safeguard for society.
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Confession, like the other Sacraments, is a river of divine grace, which flows from
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the heart of God into the heart of the sinner.
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grace?
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is the most wonderful reality in our lives.
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It gives a new and mighty energy to our wills so that we can perform all our duties well and easily.
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The reason why so many confessions do so little good is that Catholics do not make this fervent preparation.
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To go to Confession without a serious preparation is to tempt God and profane this most holy Sacrament. Confession is easy, but we must treat it with respect.
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The Saints say there is nothing so terrible on this earth as a deliberate sin.
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Were a soul to enter Heaven with one venial sin, it would willingly give up Heaven's happiness and plunge itself into the awful fires of Purgatory to wash out that filthy stain.

[ShepherdsDelight · Rating 5 out of 5]

95/100 (= 5.7/6) ≈ 5 Stars

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Best of Fr. O'Sullivan's books. The whole point. Secret to happiness, it's simplicity. Similar to but simpler than "Sinner's Guide".

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Good practical suggestions

[Jeandana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, well written and easy to follow. I'm taking a break from Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, but he is usually a very good writer. I've read quite a few of his books, and enjoyed them.

[Pamela Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an easy and wonderful book. It lists the various things saints did. Habits and practices in pursuit of a life of holiness.
There are so many things to learn.
-The importance of spiritual reading as little as 15 mins.
-The need to meditate on the passion as most of the saints did
-The power of the Holy name as many times a day
-Offering every glance, every thought, every heratbeat and every sleep to God
-The presence of guardian angels
-the benefits of daily mass
-The power of the rosary and the meditation/ interior thinking
- That we lose our lose more of out ignorance than anything else.
Highly recommend this book

[Jeannie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all Catholics.

I loved reading this ❤! As a Catholic I was far from the church and all the true understanding of all of the Sacraments and the grace and power that they offer us daily. I truly believed I was loving God as I should, now I know how to love Him best . How to receive the full measure of grace and love from I will be rereading all Father Sullivan's books on the Catholic faith.. I am a better servant of God as a result.

[Thanh Tu Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Read in Vietnamese] This is a quick and easy book with some very direct and straightforward tips. This is the first time I read his book and although it was outdated, I was pleasantly surprise by how easy it was which is a good thing. I'm interested in reading more of his books.

[Offordile Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's nice

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has a lot of good spiritual advice. Reading it shows the importance of starting the day by dedicating it to God

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful short read that focuses on the everyday importance of prayer and a mindset entirely focused on Our Lord.

[Nada Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet, quick, and optimistic book that shows you how easy God has made it to get to Heaven. I regularly reread this via audiobook as I get my work done around the house.

[Sharon Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this twice, back-to-back. It covers a wide gamut of topics, and for me, new subject matter kinda blots out older subject matter, thus the 2nd reading.

One concern I've often had is that belief is in my head, but I don't feel it in my heart. Fr. O'Sullivan even covers this! He says it is the will to believe that matters, not the emotion that might surround it.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relatively short read, yet also very helpful, gives a succinct run down for those who want to become Saints in the path of least as possible, in all aspects of their life. Its always the simple books that have the most to say and offer the most insight and help.