For the life of the soul is governed by God’s law of progress which operates throughout his Universe: first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, the full maturity of the harvest.  So by degrees must our souls grow to their full spiritual maturity, from the first uneasy stirrings of conscience and halting expression of penitence, “to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (NRSV, Ephesians 4:13).  “For He was made man that we might be made God…”, was how Athanasius described it in a bold phrase typical of that great saint. (1)

There is not one standard for this person and a lower one for that.  The standard and the goal for all is the same: the perfection of holiness in the visible Presence of God, which is Heaven.  For in Heaven, though all the saints differ from one another in all manner of ways, yet each is individually perfect, as in a necklace of pearls, some are large, others are small, but each is perfect in itself.

This perfection is what God has made us for, each one of us.  And the lives of the saints prove how, by their union with God, ordinary men and women, no different to begin with from you and me, have been able to grow in penitence and faith and love until, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, they have their “fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).  For God saw their struggle here for sanctity and he kept for them his promise recorded in Holy Scripture, “…they shall be mine…in that day when I make up my jewels…” (Malachi 3:17).

Reference

1. St Athanasius (297–373 AD) The Incarnation of the Word, 54.  Available from:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.vii.ii.liv.html (Accessed 05 July 2011) (Internet).