Late one night I stumbled upon an intense, brooding Spaniard. His name was Ignatius of Loyola and he changed my whole understanding of the Faith.

I learned about his journey—how he went from a man pursuing worldly glory to a lone hermit to the founder of the Jesuits. But what struck me most of all was his reaction to the lives of the saints. 

He didn’t simply look back at them as cool stories of those unique souls who live sanctity. No, when he read about them his response was, “What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God’s grace, I will do.” 

To him sanctity was a personal call and responsibility not just something for others in the past. There were urgent needs now that he needed to respond to. He wanted to be like them! So he did.    

And that’s what John Paul II tells us too. 

Christifideles Laici says that it is through the saints that God renews His Church and leads it to deeper conversion in Him. And the need is urgent. He doesn’t just say it’s kind of important. He says, “Today we have the greatest need of saints…”

There are people out there who desperately need us to take on the responsibility of sanctity—people who, without your story, may not come to know Jesus. It is through us that the Church is renewed. 

So, with St. Ignatius, let us say, “What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God’s grace, I will do.”