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Often the greatest saints practice the smallest and most simple virtues. Inspired by the spiritual writings of Francis de Sales, the saint of everyday holiness, Mother Seton put his teachings into practice as she treaded forward on her own path to sainthood.
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At Guadalupe, our Blessed Mother’s personal relationship with the people of Mexico changed the world. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton discovered the same truth in her own life. When you remember that Jesus and Mary are your family, then truly, anything is possible.
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Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Frances Xavier Cabrini is a saint whose life helps us to remember God’s perspective when we’re in the middle of setbacks and frustrations. No apparent failure is so devastating that He can’t bring good from it.
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Feelings change, emotions rise and fall, but God remains our anchor. It’s that truth, as St. Teresa of Avila and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton knew, that brings us peace, no matter the storms that rage around us.
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Mother Seton suffered much during her life, from poverty and social hostility, to the deaths of many loved ones. She persevered and carried on her work, thanks to her faith and courage. But through it all, she always accepted her own weakness, knowing that the true source of her strength was the Crucified Christ.
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We don’t like to put ourselves under the authority of another. For us, power is often synonymous with oppression. But in Christ, and in Our Lady, Mother Seton, and the saints, power exists in the framework of love. And when Love is what rules us, everything changes.
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In the lives of these two saints – one so modern, the other so ancient – the Church reminds us of what it means to be a saint: staying close to Christ.