For the Hidden Saints.

 

"People - NYC" by Richard Ricciardi is licensed under CC BY 2.0

One of the holiest people I know, someone who actively chooses to love those around her and who has practiced heroic courage in living out her faith, manages a McDonald's for a living. 

Another was a janitor at a little college very few people have ever heard of. 

The couple that brought my parents into fully living out their faith were a lawyer and county judge and his wife, a stay at home mom, in a small town in the middle of nowhere Mississippi.

Yet another holy person I know is a Baptist woman who taught in a public school for several years. 

All Saints Day isn't so much about the known, canonized saints for me. They're definitely important, and many of them started out as invisible as the people I've listed here. But they're known now, and most have a day set aside for them already. 

Part of the reason this day exists is to remind us that most of the people in Heaven are not widely known to us on Earth. They're people who led normal lives with holy courage who chose to love those around them as best as they could. 

They can be, if we strive for it, us. 

All you holy men and women of God, pray for us.