Saints Among Us

Happy All Saints’ Day! Today’s Feast Day encourages us to take a look back at the holy people who led lives that inspire, challenge and guide us today. One of the wonderful things about sainthood is that we are all called to it. So while there are Saints (capital “S”) who are officially canonized by the Church, we all have the calling to become saints (lower-case “s”).

At OneLife LA we like to think in particular of both Saints and saints who walk among us today as beacons guiding us on our mission to build a civilization of love.

Saints like Gianna Beretta Molla inspire us with their great love for the unborn. St. Gianna was a courageous woman diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her fourth child. Instead of aborting the baby in hopes of saving herself, Gianna chose to carry her child to full-term. Accepting the consequences of not treating her cancer, Gianna died several days after giving birth. Incredibly, she was canonized in 2004 and her husband and her children were able to attend the ceremony.

St. Gianna, pray for us so that, like you, we may be moved by great love to protect the unborn.

We also think of new Saints like St. Oscar Romero who was canonized on October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis. St. Oscar Romero stood in solidarity with the poor and the marginalized and was unafraid to call out the El Salvadoran government crimes, despite repeated threats to stop. He was eventually assassinated by the government while saying mass.

St. Oscar Romero, pray for us so that we too may have the courage to stand in unpopular places and to be in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable.

And then today we are also reminded of the many many saints who walk among us, inspiring us to shape our very lives in ways that promote dignity for all human life. People like Sister Isabella who participated in OneLife LA in 2018 and who has taken care of the elderly in Los Angeles for the last seven years. She spoke to the Catholic New Agency and described her mission, “We are God’s hands and feet in this world, and we have to say yes to the love.” This calling extends to all of us.

Sister Isabella, pray for and with us so that we all may be inspired to do the work of Jesus on Earth, dignifying life in every way.