We are living in a world of pint-sized saints.

For evidence of this, all you need to do is attend several funerals, or pay close attention to the media’s coverage of the death of a celebrity or well-known public figure.

In many churches (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) people are now canonized at their funeral services—even if they lived lives that were outwardly hedonistic and materialistic. Instead of praying for the repose of their souls—which is what we should do—we’re told to pray to them, as if we have absolute certitude that they’re already enjoying the Beatific Vision (which we do not!).

And then there’s the typical media coverage of the death of a celebrity or other public figure. This, at times, borders on the absurd. Remember, for example, the things they said about Princess Diana when she died back in 1997? They put her in the same category as Mother Teresa, who happened to pass away the same week.

Of course, some of what they said was true: Diana did many wonderful acts of charity during her all-too-brief life. But she was no Mother Teresa of Calcutta!

And the real sick irony of it all is that some of those who were "canonizing" her in this way after her death, were probably some of the same people in the press who wrote and said terrible things about her while she was alive! Talk about hypocrisy!

All this shows that we really do live in a world of pint-sized saints. In other words, as a world we have "defined sanctity down." We’ve lowered our standards concerning holiness to such an extent that the term is applied to almost everyone, except for a few noteworthy exceptions like Hitler and Saddam Hussein.

Today’s first reading reminds us that sanctity is possible for everyone. Praise God! Every human being has the opportunity to become part of that vast crowd St. John sees in his vision. But this text also reminds us that sanctity is not easily attained.

Holiness—sanctity—requires submission to God and his will (and lets face it, no one of us likes to be submissive to another person—not even a Divine Person!).

Holiness requires ongoing repentance and conversion. (That’s why it shouldn’t surprise us that many of the canonized saints went to confession frequently—some nearly every day!)

Holiness requires going the extra mile; it requires self-sacrificial love; it requires a reliance on God’s grace through prayer and the sacraments.

And it requires perseverance in the midst of trial.

In today’s first reading from Revelation 7, St. John sees a vision of the saints in heaven—the canonized and the un-canonized (all of whom we honor at this All Saints’ liturgy).

And what does the "elder" say to John when he asks who these people are? The elder says to him, "These are the one who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." In other words, "John, these are the people who have persevered and remained faithful to Christ on earth, even in the midst of their many trials and sufferings."

These are what might be called the "gallon-sized saints"—i.e., the real ones—who are praying for us, and who want to inspire us to be just like them someday.

Perhaps a sports analogy is in order here. Tiger Woods didn’t become the greatest golfer in the world because he took as his golfing role model the guy at the local country club who had a 25 handicap. If he had taken that man to be his model of golfing excellence, Tiger would probably be a double-digit handicap himself right now. He became the greatest golfer in the world because he made Jack Nicklaus his golfing role model (Nicklaus, who is recognized by most to be the best golfer of all time). Nicklaus set the golfing standard for Woods—and that has motivated Tiger to become a great golfer himself.

Applying this now to our spiritual lives: If we take the "pint-sized saints" of this world to be our models of holiness and discipleship, then we will probably become just like them—which means we won’t end up among the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (if we get there at all!).