Today we passed from the secular ritual of Halloween, to the glorious solemnity of All Saints. Often we forget that each of us is called to be a saint--YUP--each of us. If anyone has any doubts how to do that, St. Matthew gives a helpful how-to guide: The Beatitudes.
"Blessed are..." With those two words Jesus begins an instruction in how to live the life of a saint. To be poor in spirit..to be meek...to be merciful. To hunger and thirst for righteousness. To be clean of heart and to make peace.
Most of us are familiar with the phenomenal saintly stories of the Church. We grew up hearing of how John was beheaded, and Stephen was stoned; how Francis got the stigmata, or how Therese suffered humiliations and disease to die an early death. When you hear stories like that, who would be eager to be a saint. It's not only hard work, it often doesn't have a happy ending.
But those are the stories we hear about. There are countless stories--millions, through the centuries--that we don't hear about. They are the anonymous saints who go about their daily lives quietly, peacefully, joyfully, finally entering into the fullness of grace without doing anything more dramatic than merely living the beatitudes. They are the unsung saints.
All we really need...is to want to. And God will do all the rest.