Focolare Movement
Prevention of Abuse
Media Area
Contacts
Non categorizzato

Who are the saints?

Nov 1, 2015

The German theologian, Klaus Hemmerle (1929 - 1994), described the profile of the saints in one of his homilies in 1993 when he was the Bishop of Aachen. He spoke about anonymous saints, mostly unknown, but certainly well known in God’s eyes.

Klaus-Hemmerle

Klaus Hemmerle

“Who are the saints? They are not unreachable superhuman figures of a Christianity that wants to discourage us, mediocre Christians, and not high peaks beyond reach for people like us who had better remain at the foot and make do with what we have in the plains. The saints are the small ones, really small, like those that Jesus proclaimed blessed in his Sermon on the Mount: the poor, afflicted, the meek those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. They are men and women who place themselves and their own fate in God’s hands – so that these are free to make their fate a blessing for the world. They live in the presence of God and they live for us – and we can live with them. Their example is the past that tows us onward. Their life before God is the present that embraces us in a communion which death cannot delimit, and their beatitude is the future that invites us to move forward and instills us with courage.” Klaus Hemmerle, La luce dentro le cose (The Light in all things), Città Nuova Ed. 1998, p. 339

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

Integral and Ongoing Formation

Integral and Ongoing Formation

Oct 23, 2025

What kind of pedagogy does the charism of unity inspire? Today, the first version of an open document on the Focolare Movement’s integral and ongoing formation is available online. It is a text designed to grow richer through the experience and contributions of all those involved in the fields of education and formation.

Vinu Aram: dialogue, space for humanity

Vinu Aram: dialogue, space for humanity

Oct 22, 2025

Sixty years after Nostra Aetate, we share a clip from the Link-Up of June 13th, 2020. It’s taken from an interview with Vinu Aram, Director of the Shanti Ashram International Centre, an international Gandhian development organization that works in the poorest and most disadvantaged areas of Tamil Nadu in India.