Today is the feast of All Saints. Today the Church unites in celebrating the glories of Its Saintly members who have preceded us to Heaven. In meditating on these holy persons’ sanctity, we are struck with a wonder of how they came to be so holy. Some saints practiced extraordinary penances and lived very austere lives. St. Anthony of the desert is an example. Other saints became holy through constant intercourse and approximity to the Divine; such as St. Gertrude the Great. I find however that all saints became saints through perfectly living out their calling in life; whether that life was in poverty or riches, in health or in sickness. Such is the message in the paragraph that follows: 

 “In reality sanctity can be reduced to one single practice, fidelity to the duties appointed by God. Now this fidelity is equally within each one’s power whether in its active practice, or passive exercise. The active practice of fidelity consists in accomplishing the duties which devolve upon us whether imposed by the general laws of God and of the Church, or by the particular state that we may have embraced. Its passive exercise consists in the loving acceptance of all that God sends us at each moment.”  (Abandonment to Divine Providence)