Santa Marija and the universal call to holiness

In his recent Apostolic Exhortation about Holiness, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), Pope Francis speaks about “the saints next door,” a contemporary reworking of the Church’s perennial ‘universal call to holiness’.

In his characteristic style, Francis reminds us that the saints are far closer to us than we imagine. Relatives and friends of ours, he says, may be authentic saints, simply by seeking to discern God’s will in prayer and living it out in their daily life of work and family duties, joys and sorrows.

This emphasis on everyday saints might create the impression that the traditional way of viewing and celebrating saints is now passé and old hat. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

In the same way that budding footballers religiously (and I use that word advisedly) observe their footballing heroes and seek to emulate their moves, passion and lifestyle, so do we Christians with the saints.

That is why, of all the feasts we celebrate for the saints throughout the liturgical year, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Santa Marija, for us Maltese – is the greatest.

The disciples of Christ have always looked to his mother as the most beautiful model of holiness. In fact, Pope Francis himself crowns Gaudete et Exsultate with a special reference to Mary, “because she lived the Beatitudes of Jesus as none other. She is that woman who rejoiced in the presence of God, who treasured everything in her heart, and who let herself be pierced by the sword. Mary is the saint among the saints, blessed above all others... She teaches us the way of holiness and she walks ever at our side.”

Paradoxically, Mary’s exalted holiness has not stopped her from being at the same time the most accessible of saints.

After all, the Mother of God is also the mother of the Church, the special protector and guide of her Son’s followers. This paradox of distance/closeness also applies to the event in Mary’s life which we commemorate today: her assumption into heavenly glory. That which apparently renders her most distant from us actually bears the greatest personal relevance for every believer. This is because the Church sees in Mary’s glorification not merely a reward for her own holiness and her eminent role in the history of salvation, but also a source of hope for all Christians.

As Pope St John Paul II said in 1980: “For us, today’s solemnity is almost a continuation of Easter: of the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord. And it is, at the same time, the sign and the source of our hope of eternal life and of our future resurrection.” In a world of apparently hopeless situations, rife with violence, corruption and greed, it is good to be reminded that human beings are called to much more, that real greatness is indeed attainable.

Santa Marija reminds us that what she now enjoys, we too are called to share. This feast, like the Pope’s Exhortation, reminds us that holiness is not some elusive pie in the sky, the preserve of a chosen few. We are not called to merely ‘muddle along’ as best we can, perhaps aiming for ‘slightly better than average’, comfortably numb in the belief that a rare breed of human beings (whom we dub ‘saints’) compensate for our mediocrity.

Santa Marija reminds us that we, too, can be holy; in fact, we must. As per Léon Bloy’s saying: “The only great tragedy in life is not to become a saint.”

In the same way that budding footballers religiously observe their footballing heroes and seek to emulate their moves, passion and lifestyle, so do we Christians with the saints