By David Reising

The Church celebrates the feast days of various saints throughout the year. We celebrate the feast of St. Francis on October 4, the feast of St. Clare on August 11, and so on. But on November 1 we celebrate “All Saints”. This one is for you! What? For me? Yes, for you! At least we hope so!

Many images of saints depict them with pious looks on their faces, golden halos above their heads, and rays of light streaming out from behind them. Not exactly how most of us feel when we get up in the morning! Images of saints are meant to encourage us, but we can be tempted to think that God calls only a few very special people to be saints. Nothing could be further from the truth! A saint, put simply, is anyone who is in heaven. God wants all of us to be saints! He wants all of us to be with Him in heaven! Saints are not saints because they didn’t have any struggles. They are saints because they let God’s grace work in them amid their struggles. There are tons of people who are in heaven (and thus are saints) that we don’t know about. We celebrate them, and hopefully you one day, on November 1.

So next time we’re tempted to think “I could never be a saint”, let’s stop and pray “Lord, give me the grace to become the saint you are calling me to be today”!