EVERYONE MUST pursue holiness and embark on a journey to sanctity by following God’s will even in ordinary circumstances, a priest said.
In his homily during the mass for All Saints’ Day on Friday, Nov. 1, Fr. Christu Das, O.P. said people must strive for holiness in their daily lives because they are “citizens of heaven” whose mission has to be fulfilled in ordinary interactions.
“God chose us from the foundation of the world to become holy and relentless… And that’s the destination of God that we are called to become saints in our life,” Das said at the Santisimo Rosario Parish.
“[This] celebration invites human beings [that] there is in them [the] grand attraction to become the saints of the Father so, therefore, holiness is not only for priests and for sisters, rather, it is for everyone. Secondly, our citizenship is in heaven, not [on] the earth,” he added.
Emphasizing that heaven is a shared sanctuary, Das shared a story about a student who was asked by his teacher if he wanted to enter heaven, to which he declined because he said his mother wanted him to “go home” instead.
“[T]his feast invites everybody to be home… So, in every day of your life, let us [remember] that we are traveling. We are in church traveling to meet [the] Trinity,” he said, referring to the Christian doctrine that there is one God in three persons, namely the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
According to Das, devotees must live out everyday tasks with “extraordinary” devotion so God can guide them to the path of sainthood.
“Do everything in an ordinary way with extraordinary life, so, therefore, if we do [those] ordinary things with extraordinary deeds, surely we can be saints in our life,” the priest said.
All Saints’ Day is observed annually on Nov. 1 to honor the models of the faith who are already in heaven. It is followed by All Souls’ Day, which commemorates the faithful departed. F — Anna Victoria Asuncion
