Whose Saints We Are

People get it wrong. The saints are more human than the rest of us, not less. And this is so not only in the great saints like Padre Pio, who once punched a man who denied his stigmata, but in lesser known holy ones as well. Peter Maurin, for example, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, knew the pull of pride. That's why he said, Don't try and be a big shot. Be a little shot. And Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi? She once threatened her ambitious daughter with a hot poker. There would be no social climbing in her family. They are more alive than the rest of us, and that is because they understand humility. It is sanity, joy, the only way to heaven. Through their intercession, may we grow in it daily.