Over the last several monthsbut seeming like an eternitywe’ve been engulfed by political ads and campaigns of one side and then the other, and now, every single one of us is praying for next Tuesday to come and go!

In the heat of ugly political conflicts, we can easily lose sight of our real vocation as Christians: holiness. We’re called to be in the world but not of the world.  Powers and nations including our own sooner or later pass away.  But God’s word does not pass away.  Neither does the witness of the holy men and women we call saints, and whose memory we celebrate on All Saints Day and throughout the month of November.

Politics is important.  But in the end, all of the passion, all of the egos and even all of the issues in this election will fade.  In the end, for each one of us:  the only thing that matters is to be a saint….

That was the goal of Kateri Tekakwitha, Marianne Cope, Issac Jogues and so many others from right here in our own diocese.  And while we can be proud of our local heritage, we can never be content with sainthood as part of our past.  God made each of us to be saints.  That means you and me.  The hunger for holiness needs to animate every moment of our lives today, right now, and into the future.

May God grace us…and may the saints pray for us!