I [Pope Francis] like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance I see the holiness of the church militant.
Very often it is a holiness found in our next-door neighbor, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence. We might call them ‘the middle class of holiness.”
Let us be spurred on by the signs of holiness that the Lord shows us through the humblest members of (God’s) people… Holiness is the most attractive face of the church. But even out- side the Catholic Church, and in very different contexts, the Holy Spirit raises up “signs of his presence that help Christ’s followers.”