The Constant Awareness of Saints

Catechumens: It is easy to think of the Saints as distant, as inhabiting another time, or a kind of special world. This can feel as though it exempts us from the call to be Saints, but we are each, individually called to that, and the Lord, the angels, and all the Saints have that expectation of us. If the Saints were truly distance, we could not model ourselves after them, or pray to them, or hope to be saved by their prayers. If they inhabited some other world, we would not venerate their relics. Christ is the ultimate example of this, He who made the world inhabited it, and He whom man did not know, made Himself man and lives as man so that men might live as Saints. To mention a few: St. Seraphim is a man, and St. Raphael of Brooklyn likewise one of us, and St Alexis Toth ate and drank with us also. And along with many others we venerate, who know us better than we know them, and pray for us, there are countless of the glorified whose names we do not know. We are meant to be Saints along with all of these, along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with the angels. This is entirely within the realm of possibility. Let us strive to become glorified. The Saints have lain out for us the way, as Christ has. Let us find ourselves within their company, their disciples, striving to become them, their next generation. And let us not cause others to falter, because it is the will of God that these too be glorified. - Catechetical Letter 4/5/2006