Bishop Tobin on Our Call to Holiness

"The Celebration of All Saints on November 1st is a joyful and blessed day for the Church; it's a victory celebration for us. On this day we honor the saints, our heroes, members of the Church who are now enshrined in the heavenly Hall of Fame. We look to the saints for inspiration and guidance, and we pray for their assistance in our daily lives.

"Pope John Paul II, now counted among the saints himself, put it this way: 'Let us all rejoice in the Lord on this Solemnity of All the Saints! Ours is a sheer joy, a strengthening one, like that found in a big family.'

"Devotion to the saints is one of the really special aspects of our Catholic Faith. It speaks to us of the 'Communion of Saints.' As I've observed previously, Catholics embrace their saints as favorite, if sometimes eccentric, members of our spiritual family.

"We know that our spiritual family, the Church, is comprised of diverse vocations - priests, deacons, religious and lay. Everyone has a role to play and an important contribution to make. The saints, however, remind us of the one vocation, the foundational vocation, that we share: the call to holiness! Simply put, that's the goal of our entire Christian life - to be holy!"

In a recent commentary, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence (RI), reflected on the calling each person has - to be a saint.

To access Bishop Tobin's complete essay, please visit:

Without A Doubt: Holiness: The Vocation We Share (2 NOV 17)