Immaculate Heart Of Mary Church- Abbottstown issued the following announcement on Oct 31.

What is the unique characteristic common to every saint?  It certainly isn't intelligence. You don't have to be super-smart to be a saint.  St Christina the Astonishing was developmentally impaired, and yet she became a spiritual adviser to rulers and peasants alike.  St Joseph Cupertino needed a literal miracle to pass his theology exams.

It certainly isn't good looks.  St Rita of Cascia, a widow who entered the convent, was given a mystical vision of Christ's passion and experienced on her own forehead one of the wounds caused by Christ's crown of thorns.  And it was ugly and smelly.  And yet, her spiritual beauty spread like sunlight all throughout Italy and down through the centuries.

The unique characteristic of saints isn't even a great personality. Padre Pio could be harsh and demanding even when he was hearing confessions. And yet, sinners from all over the world were drawn to his confessional. The unique characteristic isn't wealth and worldly success – yes there were canonized saints who were empresses, but we also have those who were hermits and beggars.

The characteristic shared by all the saints is the truly amazing ability to experience deep joy even in the middle of terrible sorrow.  Holiness is a mature friendship with Jesus Christ, a friendship so deep and strong that it allows us to experience the joy of eternal life even while still fighting the painful battles of our earthly exile.

During the second half of the twentieth century, countless Christians in Eastern Europe suffered injustice, persecution, torture, and even martyrdom under Soviet communism, which tried to eliminate religion from culture.  One of the many heroic bishops who continued to preach the Gospel under these conditions tells the story about how he first discovered his vocation. He was orphaned at a young age and lived with his grandmother. She was the housekeeper for his uncle, a parish priest. Soon after the communists took power, they arrested this priest, leaving the grandmother and the young boy to fend for themselves.  They confiscated every religious image they could find.  When they finally finished, the grandmother and her grandson (the future bishop) were standing outside the front door as the last soldiers were leaving.  One of the soldiers laughed and sarcastically said to the woman, "Well, do you have any more religious pictures or crosses that we can take with us?" The woman smiled at the young communist and said, "Actually yes, I do have one more, but you can't take it away from me." And then, still looking him in the eye, she made the sign of the cross.  The soldier's face went white and he left without another word.  The serenity and strength of that woman, that saint, in the midst of such injustice and hardship, inspired her grandson to make Jesus Christ his closest friend, and to dedicate his life to serving the Church.

Every single one of us is called to experience true joy even in the midst of life's harshest sufferings.  Every single one of us is called to holiness, to mature friendship with Jesus Christ.  The happiness we all yearn for can come from no other source: not from money, success, fame, popularity, pleasure, not even from falling in love.

Fr. Phil

Original source can be found here.