Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
We don’t know how many of them there are, all those holy, formally canonized saints of God. More than ten thousand, surely. They came from all walks of life… those ordained or called to the consecrated life; teachers; mothers and fathers; caregivers; the chronically ill; musicians; farmers; 
one-time heretics, prostitutes, adulterers, and murderers. They came from all over the world, hundreds of countries and every continent save Antarctica. Some died before they reached their teens; others lived beyond ninety. Every Catholic schoolchild knows some of their names; others have passed into obscurity.
For all their differences, they had much in common. They loved the Lord, and their faith was so strong that they were willing to die for Him, whether that death came on a guillotine or in front of a firing squad or in the small indignities of everyday life, of not being understood by their friends or families, of being judged for not focusing on a better job, a bigger house, a nicer car, fame and recognition… but on Him.
We also don’t know how many of them there are who haven’t been canonized and may never be, people who finished their time on earth centuries ago or earlier today. They are the fathers who read to us as children, the mothers who figured out a way to make Christmas so memorable with only a few dollars, the spouse who cradled us and listened without trying to solve our problems; the neighbors who picked us for kickball even though we weren’t very good, the friends who understood when we shouted and stamped our feet that it really wasn’t anger at them but fear and self-loathing. They helped us to become better people, better sons and daughters of the King.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “All are called to holiness.” We may not achieve it every moment of our lives, but those who have gone before can teach us much about finding the courage and faith to follow, confident that if we love the Lord and our neighbors as ourselves, we will find ourselves moving closer and closer to holiness.
So on this Solemnity of All Saints, we ask: All you holy saints of God, pray for us.
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