Love stories… what’s not to love about them?
The tales of a true heart finding a match that ignites one’s own soul—and in the sacrament of marriage, two souls tethered together for all eternity.
But what about the love stories of heroes - saintly heroes like the millennial saint in sneakers, St. Carlo Acutis, who only considered the Blessed Mother as the woman for him? What about this deep, impenetrable love that a soul feels for the Creator, for God, for the friend we have in Jesus?
Or what about St. Catherine of Siena, who envisioned the Eucharist as a burning sun on the altar, blazing with a divine intensity that would normally scorch or consume a person?
What about French mystic St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, whose visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist appeared as an open furnace, a living source of flames that set her own heart on fire?
Now these are the love stories that stand the test of time.
These saints were real people who walked the face of the earth. And we still stop to wish them a happy birthday… on their death day.
Why is that?
Because that is when we are truly born into what God imagined when He made you and me.
As St. Carlo Acutis used to say:
“We are all born originals… but many of us die as photocopies.”
Sometimes we lose the spark—the thing that makes us feel who we truly are. Sometimes we get scared, we stay quiet, and over time, we lose our own voice until we can’t even recall what matters most to us.
When we think of all the great moments in our own lives (and loves!), this is the ultimate moment.
We are all called to be saints!
Of course, we are human. We fail, we fall, we falter. As St. Francis de Sales said:
“To every man, however holy he may be, there always remains some imperfection.”
And that is the truth of our faith: that we are made perfect in our weakness.
As Pope Benedict XIV said about love:
“Love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity.”
As we learn to love like the saints this All Saints’ Day, here are 6 quotes from saints on love:
- “True love begins when nothing is sought in return.”
— St. Thérèse of Lisieux
- “The measure of love is to love without measure.”
— St. Augustine
- “Love is difficult, but it is our essence. It’s what lifts us up above all other creatures.”
— St. Rose of Lima
- “[W]hat really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless.”
— Pope St. John Paul II
- “Love Him totally who gave Himself totally for your love.”
— St. Clare of Assisi
- “God created man in His own image and likeness: calling him to existence through love, He called him at the same time for love... Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being.”
— Pope St. John Paul II
True love isn't just an abstract feeling or a grand romantic gesture. It is found in the everyday choice to see Christ in the person standing right in front of us. When we give our hearts away in love, no matter how small the gesture, we step out of the shadows of being a "photocopy" — and into the glory of becoming the saint God created us to be.
In the words of Pope Leo XIV:
“Love is not passive; it goes out to meet the other. Being a neighbor is not determined by physical or social proximity, but by the decision to love.”