Every
year as we approach All Saints’ and All Souls’ days, I am reminded of a homily
I heard a few years back. The priest talked about first about the
different Saint statues they had around the sanctuary and why each of those
people became Saints. But then he started to talk about our everyday
saints (the ones with a small “s” instead of the official large “S”), the
ordinary people in our lives that we encounter every day.
I
would bet for many of us it’s easy to come up with the saints in our
lives. The loving husband who cared for his ailing wife and stayed by her
side until she breathed her last. The mother of fourteen who always had a
smile and a plate of freshly baked cookies. The good Samaritan who
stopped to help you push your car from the ditch. The next door neighbor
who came over to help you get rid of a skunk, even though they were on their
way to a wedding. These are the obvious choices for saints in our
lives. But what about the others? The next door neighbor that
doesn’t rake his leaves so they blow into your yard. The sullen teenager
that makes it her life’s mission to rebel against everything her parents tell
her. The older brother who can’t help but to terrorize his little
sister. The death row prisoner. The super slow driver on the
freeway, or the one who doesn’t use their signals. What about these
people? Well guess what, they are saints too!!
Believe
it or not, we are all saints (some of us just need more training than
others). Most of us won’t ever get the chance to become a formally
canonized Catholic Saint, but we all have the potential to be one because we
are all already a saint to someone. And I bet if we started thinking of
ourselves as saints and that everyone we encounter is a saint, the way we treat
others and ourselves will improve.
So
to my fellow saints, have a happy and blessed All Saints and All Souls Days.
May we remember the all the Saints and saints up in heaven and
those still here on earth.
