God calls us to lead lives of holiness. Jesus gave the most perfect example with his own life. But he gave us other examples of holiness in his own mother, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.
Saints are people to whom we can relate, essentially role models for the faithful. Saints do not forget those of us on Earth. They follow Jesus’ commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39) even after death. In following this, saints pray intensely for those of us on Earth. And thank goodness, because we really need it!
While we ask saints for help, it is by God that our prayers are answered. Saints help us at the request of Jesus and through God’s power. When you pray to a saint, you’re not worshiping that saint. You’re asking for the saint to pray for you and ask God to help you.
God is the one acting in our lives, not the saints. They’re just the messengers showing us the way to reach the Lord.
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We know that every effort to better society, especially where injustice and sin are so ingrained, is an effort that God blesses, that God wants, that God demands of us.
Archbishop Oscar Romero
March 24, 1980
Last homily before he was martyred for the people of El Salvador
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“Hope” is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
Emily Dickinson
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Stand by the roads and look, ask for the ancient path, which is the way to good. Walk on it and find rest for your soul.
Jeremiah 6:16
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Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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