We are called to be saints, nothing less. No matter who you are, what age you are, your ultimate purpose in life is to become a saint and to live forever with God in love.
I know so many people, and I am sure that you do too, who are saints here on earth, and others again who are saints now in heaven. I pray to them and I get help from them every single day. We have every right to declare them saints and to venerate them as such.
Saint John-Paul II, by canonizing all around him, was trying to show us that there is nothing unusual about wanting to be a saint and nothing untoward about actually becoming one. We only have to remain true to ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us along the right path.
To become a saint does not mean that you have to give up everything that you are, in order to become some kind of holy Joe or holy Josephine with a face like a ton of vinegar, who spoils every party they go to by their lugubrious presence. Saints come from every walk of life: A twenty-four year old nun called Thérèse; a ninety-three year old pope called Leo; a king called Louis, a carpenter called Joseph; a queen called Margaret and a housekeeper called Martha; everybody and anybody, you and me, can become saints. And your particular vocation in life is to find out exactly how that bundle of nerves and chromosomes that happens to be you, can link up with the divine energy of love, that will turn you into the wonder that you were created to be. So, don’t waste another minute listening to me. Get started and get connected. Amen.
– Extracts from a homily for the Feast of All Saints by Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman OSB