Our Lady´s maternal gaze watches over us, seeks us and sees the best what we need and what we lack. This is the same look as at the wedding at Cana of Galilee, when she first noticed, “They have no wine.” Our Lady sees how lost we are, our desires and our will to come to God, but we do not have the strength nor do we know the ways as Our Lady knows, who is full of grace. She wants only the best for us and what we need most, and that is holiness. That is why she has called us to walk in holiness all these years.

The very words holiness and saints may seem too abstract and incomprehensible to us. For some people, saints are just legends and fairy tales. For others, this is a calendar list of somewhat vague and meaningless names. For some Christians, saints are a kind of automats and a special kind of self-service. Some consider the saints to be strange hermits and penitents who hated and persecuted their bodies and fled the world so much that they became strange and abnormal people.

There is an anecdote that tells how a disciple came to the teacher and told him that he was ready for sainthood, because he had tormented his body so much that he was able to sleep on the ground, eat grass and whip himself three times a day. “Even a donkey sleeps on the ground, eats grass and is constantly whipped, and no one has declared him a saint. Where is your love?”, replied the teacher.

The most important thing by which saints are distinguished is love. Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing simple and everyday things with love. Holiness is measured by love.

We often tend to think that holiness is reserved only for a few, only for the elected.

Holiness is offered to us all. And it does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in uniting oneself with Jesus Christ and living his mysteries, in learning his attitude, thoughts and behavior.

If you want to be truly holy, always fulfill your small duties. To become and be a saint is not to be without sin or never to fall, but always to rise again humbly and perseveringly.

Our Lady told us in her messages that the saints should be a model and an example for us to live the life of faith. Engaging and studying the lives of the saints also helps us to also ask the question, “Where am I in relation to the saints? How do I live my faith? Can I be as holy as they were? Do I have the courage to belong to God, to Jesus and to Our Lady in today’s world? Do I believe that God has the last word even though it might seem to us that He is hiding?”

In one of his sermons, Pope Francis said, “In order to walk on the path of holiness, one must have a heart that hopes courageously, keep asking questions and humbly open oneself to the grace of God.“

Only God is holy. And He bestows His holiness on the soul to the extent that the soul surrenders and opens itself to Him with trust and perseverance.

Pope Francis teaches us, “Holiness can only be attained with the help of four essential elements: courage, hope, grace, and conversion.”

Our Lady does not cease to walk with us on the path of holiness, to encourage us and to guide us along the path she has already taken. She knows that it is possible for us to walk the paths that leads to God. But she can’t do it instead of us. She cannot change us or live and believe for us. Let’s help her so she can help us. Mother who loves her children, longs for them and wishes them the best that is necessary for their souls and lives. She knows that God created us for himself, and our heart is restless until we return to the source of our life, to God.

Let us pray:

Our Lady, Queen of peace, you come to us from glory to which God has brought you, because of the merits of your son, Jesus Christ. You come to us because God has allowed you to do so, as you tell us in your message. You, who gave birth to the Prince of Peace, Jesus, sees restlessness, hatred and war in many human hearts. You tell us of the destructive action of Satan who is destroying human lives. Evil is happening because of people who have opened themselves to the spirit of war and destruction. To you, O Mother, we raise our hands and open our hearts that by the power of your intercession you may beg peace from your Son Jesus. Just as you interceded at Cana of Galilee, so now we ask you, Queen of Peace, to grant us who are suffering from the consequences of war and hatred liberation, peace and an end to war and all the wars that are taking place in human hearts, in our families and in our human relationships. Amen.