"It's a girl!" "We won the World Cup!" "We have a pope!" Such announcements carry layers of history, of emotion, of accomplishment. "WE HAVE A SAINT!" This is OUR big news, and the whole world will know it come May 18th! Why all the excitement about the canonization of Maria De Mattias?

In Deuteronomy we read: "Be holy, for I the Lord, am holy." Prior to Vatican II holiness "seemed" to be relegated to just a few. One of the most refreshing results of the Council was to say "out loud" that holiness was EVERYONE'S call! Maria De Mattias is a wonderful example of what God can do with the "nobodies" of this world, with the little ones who say yes to falling in love with God, who allow themselves to be seduced into this wild love affair with Emmanuel, God-with-us.

But what does holiness really mean? It involves two persons who are totally unequal, one of whom is all love, all gift, all goodness, the other who is weak, naturally self-centered, and suffering the results of sin. An invitation is issued, develops into friendship, accelerates in the offer of marriage, and culminates in a life response of YES! Holiness is simply receiving that Other in the everyday, responding to that Other who is recognized in life's events, - and especially in people - and walking in the light of that Relationship.

Such a one was Maria De Mattias. She saw the extent to which Love would go to win her heart - to the point of blood - and she never returned to ordinary seeing again! She carried a vision in her soul and it drove her to make mountain-top announcements of her own: "Let us love Jesus Crucified, and do all we can to make Him loved also by others." "Let us serve God with our whole heart and become saints, for this is our vocation." "Jesus loves us, and His Mother is our dearest mother who wants us to be saints and who will not fail to give us the necessary helps. And will we become saints? Yes, if we, too, wish it."

"Well, you may say, Maria was already a saint! She didn't experience what we do." What do you experience? Lack of health? Maria suffered from TB and had a cancerous tumor on her arm - yet she wrote over 1400 letters. I suffer from the cold and in February when I spent a prayer day in the house in Vallecorsa - Acuto, I nearly froze! Yet Maria passed through the same mountainous area on muleback and on foot, in rain, snow, and heat to open new schools, to visit and encourage her companions, to confer with Bishops and priests. Do you experience discouragement? Maria suffered from bishops who refused to communicate with her, from priests who resented her gifts as a woman of the Word, from her own sisters who refused her housing. Her response? "Courage, and let your motive always be to give your life for the salvation of souls which cost Jesus Blood, and to sanctify yourself."

When one has a vision, one's own life isn't big enough to respond adequately. It was necessary for Maria to attract as many as possible to this unbelievable Mystery Who is Love. This reality is beautifully depicted in the art piece greeting those who come to the Generalate: Love is crucified, and with one hand Maria De Mattias is reaching up to touch that Sign of God's total acceptance of us. "She looked at Him and loved Him." With her other hand she is signaling to other Adorers to come and see, to know this Gift and to share it with all they meet. With these other Adorers are children and mothers, the sick and elderly, the poor, symbolic of all God's people. The secret of holiness is right here: "May the love of Jesus fill your heart and make you a saint soon."

There really ARE no excuses for us avoiding this same call to holiness. It's precisely "our type" that Love chooses: the nobodies, the simple, the ordinary, the little ones - as one of our novices captured so well in the following poem:

That Little Piece of Bread
The point of Union between earth and heaven is there
In that little piece of bread.
All of our human power is enclosed there -
in the Body of Christ Jesus.
That little piece of bread
Is the visible sign of the infinite mercy of God
Who always chooses the weak
The poor,
the humble,
in a word,
that little piece of bread,
to establish with us the glorious covenant of Love. -Manuela Nocco

Just one question: Since this call is an invitation where Love does everything in me, what REALLY is my excuse?????????