To be a saint is not first about statues, miracles, or titles. It is about love — a life that belongs completely to God. When we call someone a saint, we are saying that this person allowed God’s grace to transform them so deeply that Christ’s light shines through their humanity. A saint is someone who has learned how to love as Jesus loves.
Many people think of saints as perfect, but they were not without weakness or struggle. The saints were ordinary men and women — farmers, teachers, mothers, priests, kings, and beggars — who, in their daily lives, chose to follow Christ faithfully. They prayed, forgave, suffered, and hoped. What made them holy was not their strength, but their surrender. As Saint Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
The Church calls saints those who now live forever with God in heaven. Some are officially canonized — recognized publicly for their heroic virtue — but countless others are known only to God. Every soul in heaven is a saint, and every Christian is called to become one. Holiness is not for the few; it is the destiny of all who walk with Christ.
To be a saint, then, is to let God’s love take root in every part of your life — to be patient where it’s hard, to forgive when it hurts, to trust when you cannot see. It is a journey of grace, one step at a time, toward the heart of God.
May we remember that sainthood is not a distant ideal, but our daily invitation — to live in such a way that others can glimpse Christ through us.
— Fr. John Matthew, for Christian Way
