Dear Saints,

This coming Wednesday is your day! November 1st is the Solemnity of All Saints, and it’s worth remembering what it means to be a saint so we can live out the call even more fully.

To start, there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter saint. Like the rest of God’s creation - whether in the sky or on the earth or under the sea - diversity is on full display when you look at the lives of the saints. We are of every age, race, family background, tastes, and temperament. Moreover, no single saint fully reflects the splendor of God; it is only in the communion of us all that we begin to get a more complete sense of the one spirit animating our many gifts.

And yet, saints share a common cause that unites us across time and space. Celebrating this feast back in 2018, Pope Francis proclaimed: “in short, either holiness or nothing!” Saints don’t live by half-measure. They are passionate, bold, and decisive. In their meekness they are magnetic; in their generosity they are giants. Scripture says that their devotion is as relentless as the netherworld. They are the loyal friends of God to the very end; their love for him and one another is unwavering and everlasting. May that love always be the force that enlivens every moment of our days.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ