Sermon – The Saints Loved God – August 1, 2026

Today we commemorate Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori, a great saint, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

Saint Alfonso was a truly great saint who worked tirelessly throughout his life. He was a bishop, a tireless shepherd, a great theologian, missionary, preacher, founder, writer, poet, musician, painter, and lawyer.

He was like a machine. Like all saints, he was a man who dedicated himself entirely to God in his words and deeds, in everything.

We wonder how he managed all this. The answer is very simple: he tried to love God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his strength, just as the Lord commanded us.

Sometimes we might think that holiness is only for saints; that it is impossible to attain the kind of holiness possessed by saints like Saint Ignatius, whose memory we celebrated yesterday, or Saint Alfonso, whom we commemorate today…

But this is completely wrong; because “nothing is impossible for God” ; God calls us all to holiness and the pinnacle of holiness, not ordinary holiness, but immense holiness.

It is important to understand that all the saints throughout history were extremely ordinary people, just like all of us here, made of flesh and bone; none of them were half-human, half-angelic beings.

What every saint throughout history did was to make a serious decision and strive to love God in all things and at all times. And that was enough for God to elevate them to great sainthood.

Each in their own unique way: some, like Saint Alfonso, became zealous priests who accomplished great things, while others completely withdrew from the world and served God in simplicity and humility.

One became saintly by performing great apostolic activities and great deeds with thousands of people, while another became a great saint in the monotonous days of a mission without ever seeing its fruit.

Yet no saint has ever been interested in being "a saint specializing in a particular field"; they have only been interested in one thing, the most important and only necessary thing: to love God and only God; despite everything, despite their own fragility, weaknesses, limitations, their own character, whether they have much talent, little or no talent, whether their health is good or bad…

Above all, loving only God will lead us to true and great sainthood; for God asks nothing from us but love; we cannot add anything to God, He is not concerned with our abilities, for we have received them all from Him; but He is concerned with our love; and if He sees that someone has truly decided to love Him, He will not leave that love and that determination fruitless, but rather He will make it blossom and make that person a great saint.

Therefore, let us befriend the saints; let us follow their example, especially that of Saint Alfonso today, and of many others. Let us ask for the grace of true love for God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.