Our associate pastor today gave a lovely homily about being a saint in the circumstances you find yourself in–whether you are a mother like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, or a Pope, or a teacher and nurse like Blessed Mother Teresa.
He illustrated it with a cute story of how he, as a fifth-grade child in India preparing for First Communion, first heard the stories of many saints, especially child saints. He was taken with the story of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother in Fatima, and would climb a tree and pray for Mary to appear to him. Of course, she didn’t. He grew to understand that it wasn’t his place to copy someone else’s approach to sainthood, but to find his own way.
I hope Father Gerald is the one to celebrate Mass with the school children later today, so my Big Kids and their fellow students can hear this wonderful message.