The Witness of the Saints

The following is a reflection written by Ronda Chervin. Chervin is a convert from Judaism and was a student under the late Dietrich Von Hildebrand. It is taken from a reflection of the Day for November 1st of the Magnificat subscription for November 2025. 

The saints are the great revolutionaries in the area of loving God and neighbor. Through their total commitment to God, they are able to extend themselves past the boundaries of what their own society is willing to see as lovable…. Saint Vincent de Paul discovered the lovableness of slaves and of abandoned babies. And different saints through the centuries overcame the
lethargy of their fellow citizens by expanding enormous energies in the founding of the first free hospitals and schools for the poor. In more recent times, we have Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who found ways to turn the most trivial occupations into gifts of love, thus bringing Christ closer to the limited bourgeois class to which she belonged. Saint John Bosco, relying solely on daily contributions, was able to feed, clothe, shelter, and train hundreds of street boys in Northern Italy.

And a missionary nun, Mother Teresa, worked in the teeming streets of Calcutta, gathering up those dying in rags to care for and assure them that, at least in their last moments of life, they are loved and wanted. The list of saints and their deeds of love is endless…. If we are really interested in the happiness of those closest to us, can we ignore the depth of love which the
saints show us is possible through total commitment to Christ? We should want to imitate them, not because of some vainglorious desire to be famous, but because we wish to give ourselves generously to those who need us. But we cannot do this unless we become holy (totally open to Christ); only then, through love, can we give them something of infinite and eternal value….

Because of the radiance of those personalities who love totally, we find them as lovable as people we know personally, and therefore call on their help as participants in Christ’s inner life of grace with trusting confidence. By relating to them, we get a foretaste of the final union of all mankind in Christ’s Mystical Body. One day, we shall arrive in eternity, where we shall dance together in the sheer joy of perfect love.