All Saints

 

As we celebrate All Saints Day,

We may wonder what we have on common with the Saints.

Everyone thinks that saints were born that way.

But not really.

Most saints grew up in families just like ours.

Some had moms and dads.

But others came from broken homes like St. Francis of Assisi,

Whose father disowned him when he decided to follow Jesus.

St. Patrick was taken away from his family as a child by slave traders in Ireland,

And grew up without a mom or dad.

Theresa of the Little flower grew up without a mother from the age of 4.

Not all saints started out that way.

Some started out as sinners and became saints.

Like St. Augustine who led a very wild life as a youth,

But later had a conversion.

Or John Newton who was a slave trader

who had a conversion and wrote the hymn, Amazing Grace.

Some people think the life of a saint is easy.

Theresa of Avila once said that she would rather do any manual labor rather than recollect herself in prayer, because praying had become so difficult for her.

St. Ignatius of Loyola experienced depression so severely that he had considered suicide at one point.

What made them all saints however was that they never gave up.

They kept the Faith, no matter what they were going through.

Whatever we are going through in our life,

There is a saint who has been there and done that

Who can help us get through.

Whether it is a broken home,

Sickness or depression or

Merely if we are lost and don’t know where to turn.

And every saint would tell us,

Don’t settle for just being a “good person”

Strive to be Holy!

And God will do the rest?

God Bless