"Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us." -Hebrews 12:1
Saints do not have superhuman powers. Like us, they lived in a secular world with competing values, yet they remained different from the world by being like Jesus. As one theologian describes, the saints in heaven can be imagined as a great stadium of people who have run or are running a race. While we each independently approach the starting line, we are lifted by the accompaniment of those who have gone before us, who cheer us on in our race.
The celebration of All Saints Day is simple, but not easy. If we want to be saints, we must be willing to be like Jesus: selfless, unconditionally loving, and forgiving, even if the world tells us otherwise.
How can you live out your vocation to love, to sainthood, today?
As we pray together, we hold in mind and heart those in our Catholic health ministry who have gone before us, joining God in eternal life:
God of all holiness,
We thank You for the great cloud of witnesses
who have shown us what it means to live out our call to sainthood
in hospitals and on street corners, in boardrooms and in breadlines.
Help us to see that sainthood is not perfection,
but the courage to say yes to love — over and over — even when it costs us.
Like those who have finished the race ahead of us, may we remember that holiness is found in small acts of faithfulness, and that we never walk the path alone.
In Your name we pray: AMEN.