Written by Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

We hold up the saints as models of living the Gospel fully. We offer them as examples for our own lives. It may seem that their model is too difficult to follow, that there must have been something extra special about them that they could be so good. But we can strive for that level of love for all of God’s people, for doing what we can to help others, for offering prayers and help for those in need.

The Felician Sisters are named for St. Felix of Cantalice, a Capuchin Franciscan Friar who lived in the 1500s. He served the people of Rome with joy, begging for alms and bread to support the hungry and offering thanks at all times for all that he encountered. Living the Gospel life was his way.

I couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities between the portrait of St. Felix in the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rome to a photo I took of one of the Felician Sisters outside that very church. She too gave her care, her respect for the dignity of a person in need on the steps before that church.

Catholic Social Teaching offers us a simple list of items that summarizes ways in which we can live out the Gospel in our own lives. One of the basic tenets is Life and Dignity of the Human Person.  We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. When we think of every person as sacred, how can we not treat their lives with seriousness and respect? How can we not hope for the best for them? How can we not do all that we are able to make their lives better?

The saints who we celebrate throughout the year don’t have the corner on the market of holiness! We too can strive today to live our lives in the model that we are given through them and through the Gospel. Jesus guides our path. The saints show it’s possible. And saints today in our midst give us the steps to follow.

Blessed Angela: “All your deeds, thoughts, and words belong to Him.”