We must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives - that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with Him.



The memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is celebrated on 4 January. Her quiet, vibrant, and heroic holiness was recognized even in her lifetime and was proclaimed when she was beatified by Pope John XXIII on March 17, 1963, the feast of Saint Patrick, patron of her diocese of New York. Hers is fittingly one of the great bronze figures on the central doors of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. Pope John spoke of her as "the first officially recognized flower of sanctity which the United States offers to the world."



Mother Seton was canonized by Pope Paul VI on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in 1975, the first native-born American to be so honored. Pope Paul spoke of her as "wholly American," and urged "the great nation of the United States of America" to be proud of her.



We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life. We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.