“The saints manifest in various ways the powerful and transforming presence of the Risen One.  They allowed Christ to grasp their lives so completely that they can affirm with Saint Paul “it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me”  (Gal. 2:20).  To follow their example, have recourse to their intercession, enter into communion with them, “joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace and the life of the People of God itself” (LG 50).
Holiness, the fullness of the Christian life, does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in union with Christ, in living his mysteries, in making his attitudes, his thoughts, his behavior, our own.  The measure of holiness is the stature of Christ in us, upon which we model our entire life upon his through the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is in being conformed to Jesus, as Saint Paul affirms: “those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29).  And Saint Augustine exclaimes: “My life will be filled in you”  (Confessions, 10, 28).
-    Benedict XVI, April 13, 2011 –

The gift of life

As Parliament was discussing the law on abortion, Mother Scholastica prayed, but not only that! On May 15, 1976, she wrote to the Honorable Loris Fortuna, the politician who, after the approval of the law on divorce, now upheld the legalization of abortion.  Some points from her letter:
“I think: if you could have reasoned while you were still in your mother’s womb, you would never have agreed that your mother abort you, in the event that she would have desired this, and now, if you wish to act with wisdom and coherence to truth, you must desist from your resolution to approve this law.
Do you believe that the omnipotent God cannot grant his Providence upon many millions of people; he who created the universe and all its inhabitants who have existed until the present, those who exist and those who will exist, when you are no longer here?... Think well, that your soul is created by God and redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ… The person writing to you is merely your fellow Italian and Christian citizen, without other titles than those of wishing you well and desiring for you all that is good, especially the eternal good.
Correspond to this invitation, and I will continue to assist you with my poor but fervent prayer”.