Sanctity means loving. That is what we have been created for—to love—to love our neighbor and, through him or her, to love God. Loving is fun. Loving is joy. Loving is peace. Loving means serving. Loving means forgetting self for others. Learn how to love, and all the rest will be added to you.

We are almost beside ourselves today with fears—about bombs and wars. Our heads cannot rest anywhere, nor our hearts, nor our souls. We seek answers vainly in armaments and laws, knowing, even while we do this, that we are shadowboxing because there is nothing we can do to prevent annihilation from the weapons our own brains have invented.

Nothing can save us except sanctity. That’s why we need saints today. If St. Francis of Assisi had an atomic bomb, would anyone worry about it? No, because, being a saint, he loved much. And where love is, there cannot be fear or evil.

Ah, we do need saints today! We need understanding, too, to realize that the greatest tragedy that can befall anyone is not to be a saint!

—From Grace in Every Season, November 1, pp. 289-290, (2001), available from Madonna House Publications.