Abouna made an interesting point about this yesterday in the sermon (to get us to remember that we start fasting today). He reminded us that when we declare "the holies (meaning the sacraments) are for the holy", and then approach to receive communion, we are acknowledging that we are holy. So we are saints, even though none of us are canonized, and yet we so often do not act like it. How many entries of the synaxarion begin "today we honor St. So-and-So, who made the excuse that we can't fast on Sunday, thereby delaying the start of the Fast until a time that was more convenient for him"? (Of course none of them have that, that's the point.)
So I received the message from this that the difference between a saint and an everyday Orthodox believer is one of willingness to cooperate with God. There are saints who doubted (St. Thomas), saints who committed great sins (St. Moses the Ethiopian, St. Mary of Egypt, etc.), and all kinds of other non-saintly behavior. Yet they were willing to cooperate with God, and through His grace (which is the very same grace that we not-yet-saints also receive in the sacraments), they became children of God, and are among our saints today. Remember 2 Corinthians 12:9 ("My strength is made perfect in weakness") and cooperate with God, and even if nobody ever writes a hymn in your memory you'll have done great things worthy of the saints who are on our calendars.
