We Can Be Saints, Too!

This is a tribute to San Lorenzo Ruiz, the Phil's one and only (officially canonized) saint. While Japan, China and other non-Christian countries already have countless of martyrs, the Philippines, the only Xtian country in Asia, has only 1.

San Lorenzo Ruiz was a lay man; he was not a priest or a religious. Hence, he is one like most of many Filipino, a lay man who has a family, but was nevertheless active in Church activities. But while we only 1 officially canonized saint, don’t we have hundreds, perhaps thousands of un-official/ un-canonized saints...like Mothers praying fervently each day for your perseverance, or your lola and/ or lola who wake up much earlier than our 5 AM rising time to walk to the Church amidst the dark and cold early morning to attend Mass! Or of the kaabags and katekistas who serve your parishes gratis, without any pay! And you can multiply the examples…

If only for this, many of our lay people, more than our own selves, qualify to be called saints for they meet Lawrence Cunningham’s definition of a saint “one who is so grasped by a religious vision that it becomes central to his or her life, in a way that radically changes the person and leads others to glimpse the value of that vision.”

Onthis feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz and companion martyrs, this is our call! This is our…challenge!