All souls are made to be all saints

Last week, I had the privilege to lead a pilgrimage to Rome for the Los Angeles chapter of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, and we had the honor to meet Pope Leo XIV during his general audience. 

Nearly 20 years ago, I helped to form CALL as a way to bring Latinos together to share their faith and grow in their commitments to spreading the Gospel in our society. It has been wonderful to watch the organization flourish over the years and to see the difference its members are making in their homes, parishes, and communities.

CALL’s purpose is rooted in the ancient truth restated by the Second Vatican Council: that we are all called to holiness, and that the laity have a duty to continue the mission of Jesus on earth, to sanctify the world, infusing every aspect of our society and culture with the spirit of the Gospel.

I write about the duty of the laity in my new pastoral letter, “The Wonder of America,” which I had the honor to present to the pope in a private audience while I was in Rome. 

In reflecting on the Virgin Mary’s apparitions in Mexico City in 1531, I came to a deeper understanding of the figure of St. Juan Diego, an ordinary layman, a man of faith, with family commitments and responsibilities in his parish. Our Lady entrusted this humble man to carry out the task of opening the door of faith to the peoples of the vast continents of the New World. 

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the story of how a saint is made, of how Juan Diego learned that he is a child of God, made in his image, and called to follow Jesus and become a saint. 

There is lots of talk these days about artificial intelligence, “transhumanism,” and “posthumanism.” Leo writes about these currents of thought in “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”). 

The idea is that human nature can be “perfected,” that our human limitations and weaknesses can be overcome, that even our morality can be transcended, through the application of science and technology. 

To me, these ideas profoundly misunderstand the truth that Jesus revealed about the human person. 

It is true: we are made to be perfected; we are made to transcend our mortal bodies and live for all ages. We are made for greater things — to become holy, to become saints. But this is meant to come about, not by the works of our own hands, but by the workings of God’s grace in our souls. 

This is the beautiful truth that Jesus revealed, the truth we remember in November, this month of “all saints” and “all souls.” 

In my pastoral letter, I quote the “Catechism”: “The vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father’s only Son.”

Being human is a vocation; it is a calling, a mission. God creates us to share in his life, to be holy as he is holy, to live as his image in the world, as his sons and daughters. This is why we are here. Every one of us. This is the beautiful possibility that we have in our lives. 

And the path we follow is the one Jesus sets before us: to share in his life and mission, to walk according to his teaching, and to strive every day with the help of his grace to become more like him.

“We are God’s children now,” St. John wrote, “What we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

We shall be like him! This is the promise of our faith. 

The Church’s sacraments are greater than any technology we could devise. Only the sacraments truly give us the power to transcend and perfect our humanity. 

As Jesus humbled himself to share in our humanity, through baptism he makes us children of God and partakers of the divine nature.

In every Eucharist, he continues this work of transformation, changing us little by little and more and more into his likeness, just as he changes the bread and water into his body and blood.

The truth that we celebrate in November is that we are born in time but made to dwell with God for all eternity in heaven. We are born with limitations, vulnerable to suffering and sin, but capable of transcending our limits through grace, capable of heroic deeds of self-sacrifice and love. All souls are made to be all saints.

Pray for me and I will pray for you. 

And let us ask Blessed Mary to help us to become the saints we are made to be.