Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

This seems like an unusual passage to choose for a Gospel reading. There’s really nothing happening here. It’s three verses, mostly a list of people who were there.

And yet, tucked into that list is a small detail that matters: “and many others.” It doesn’t tell us who they were. It simply tells us that many other people were with Jesus, supporting his ministry and playing an essential part in it.

So often, we focus on the heroes of the faith. We do this in other parts of life, too. We know Peter and James and John. We know Mary Magdalene. We know the people who made an enormous impact, whose stories and legends have come down to us. We name churches after them. We see them in our windows. And that is good. They are meant to inspire us, to motivate us to go out and be holy.

But sometimes we begin to think they were the only people who mattered—that truly following Christ means being exactly like them. And that isn’t true. We can’t be Saint Peter. He has already done his work and played his role. We can’t be James or John or Mary Magdalene. Each was called to a particular form of holiness, in a particular time and place, and each fulfilled that calling.

But there were “many others.” They had their own roles to play. Christ called them to particular tasks. He did not allow all their names to come down to us, but they mattered. They played a central role in building up God’s kingdom. Their lives mattered, even if we don’t remember their names.

The same is true of every one of us. Most of us will probably never be canonized. We’re not going to rename this church after one of you—or after me. But each of us has a role to play. God is calling us to holiness. He is calling us to serve his kingdom in particular ways, right here in this community. History may not remember us at all, but we make a difference.

That is what it is to follow Christ: to recognize that he calls us at a particular time, in a particular place, to do particular things. Our task is to discover that mission and fulfill it. That is where we find authentic holiness.

So yes, let the saints whose names we know inspire us. But don’t become so focused on them that we forget all the saints whose names we do not know. The Church gives us that wonderful feast of All Saints, when we remember them even though their names have been lost to us.

And all of us are called to be saints. We need to discover how God is calling us to live that holiness. Don’t try to be Saint Peter. His time has come and gone. Don’t try to be Mary Magdalene. You aren’t them. Be who you really are: the person God created you to be, the person he is calling you to be in this moment. Find holiness there.

If each of us played our role, if we truly listened to every inspiration of the Holy Spirit and every call God gives us, we would build up his kingdom. We would convert many people. We would raise up saints whom history will remember.

So let us discover who God is calling us to be in this moment. Let us go out, fulfill those roles, and achieve the holiness he intends for all people.