Saints are not perfect human beings they simply fulfill their purpose perfectly.
MLK was such a saint.
Mother Theresa was such a saint. In my autobiography, We Can Do Together, I describe an encounter with mother and those who worked with her that illuminates the above insight perfectly.
At the heart of a well lived life is the willingness to explore our true purpose on this earth. Purpose expands over time but cannot be extinguished. This is why one of the more useful new year resolutions is to take time and revisit our purpose.
Past, present and future.
While we can learn much from our past and may show imaginative vision for great things in our future, it is only in the present that we can deepen and firmly root our usefulness.
Only in the now can we reach for wholeness of purpose and gratefully accept the embrace of eternal holiness.