YOU TOO CAN BE A SAINT

When we look at the statues of saints in our churches, we sometimes think, “These people were extraordinary! They prayed for hours and performed miracles. How can an ordinary person like me become a saint?”

This weekend’s Solemnity of All Saints gives us a wonderful answer: Yes, you too can be a saint.

The saints were not all born extraordinary. Many struggled with their weaknesses. St Peter was impulsive. St Paul persecuted Christians before becoming an apostle. St Augustine struggled for years before his conversion. What made them saints was their willingness to allow God’s grace to transform their ordinary lives.

The message of All Saints is not simply, “Look at these wonderful people!” It is also, “Look at what God’s grace can do in your life!”

In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us the roadmap to sainthood. He does not say, “Blessed are those with the most money or followers.” He describes people whose hearts are open to God. To be poor in spirit is to recognize our need for God. To hunger for righteousness is to desire what is right, even when it costs us. To be merciful is to refuse to let another person’s mistakes destroy our capacity to love.

Pope Francis reminds us in Gaudete et Exsultate, “To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious.” Holiness is not a privilege reserved for a few. It is your Christian calling. You too can be a saint right where you are.

Holiness grows in small, hidden moments. Imagine being deeply offended by a relative. You have every reason to be hurt. Yet instead of spreading the story, you decide to pray and refuse to repay evil with evil. No one may applaud it. Yet in that quiet struggle to forgive, you are becoming a saint.

A husband can be a saint by listening patiently to his wife. A wife can be a saint by responding with gentleness. Parents can be saints by correcting their children firmly but lovingly and teaching them to pray. Grandparents can be saints by praying for their families. As St Thérèse of Lisieux said, “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word.”

St Josemaría Escrivá captures it perfectly: “Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find him.”

Your ordinary responsibilities can become the very place where holiness grows. When carried out with love and integrity, your work, your family, and your daily duties are your path to sainthood.

This All Saints Day, do not just admire the saints. Join them. You too can be a saint.