The Rise of the Next-Door Saints
Story by Carlos Briceño
Next-door saints: that’s the phrase Pope Francis uses for the heroic people — nurses, doctors, first responders, priests, grocery store workers, factory workers, parents who are working and taking care of children at home — who are sharing long stretches of self-sacrifice, love and patience with the public and family members.
The Holy Father first refers to next-door saints in Guadete et Exsultate, Latin for “Rejoice and Be Glad,” the pope’s 2018 apostolic exhortation focused on holiness.
“I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people,” he wrote. “In those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance, I see the holiness of the Church militant. Very often it is a holiness found in our next-door neighbors, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence.”
These actions — patience, perseverance, love, joy — are virtues, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines as “a habitual and firm disposition to do the good.”
The world hungers for leaders who possess these virtues. In 2001, Jim Collins wrote a classic management book called Good to Great that spelled out how companies transition from being good companies to great ones. One of the characteristics common to great companies was “Level 5 Leadership.”
Collins referred to these leaders as having “a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.” He describes them as being modest, self-effacing, understated, driven, and diligent. They are also referred to as servant leaders.
It’s obvious that great leaders are set apart by their willingness to love, which comes from developing and channeling their virtues into who they are, what they do and how they do it.
Alexandre Havard, in his excellent book called Created for Greatness: The Power of Magnanimity, writes about some of the rewards that shower those who desire to grow in the virtues.
“By practicing the virtues, leaders become mature in their judgments, emotions, and behavior. The signs of maturity are self-confidence, coherence, psychological stability, joy, optimism, naturalness, freedom and responsibility, and interior peace. Leaders are neither skeptics nor cynics; they are realists. Realism is the capacity to entertain noble aspirations of the soul, despite one’s personal weaknesses. Realists do not give in to weakness; they overcome it by the practice of virtues.”
Thousands of books have been written on leadership over the past several decades, a clear indication of the hunger many feel to learn how to be great leaders. And yet many people, when they reach key leadership positions, end up disappointing. A clear sign is this startling statistic: globally, only about 15 percent of employees are engaged at work.
Could this humongous level of disengagement be the fault of leadership? It is definitely one of the major reasons. Could it be that these leaders are not practicing the virtues?
Probably.
By way of contrast, next-door saints are seen as heroes. They model the mindsets and behaviors needed to lead. It’s about character. It’s about serving. It’s about seeing the value of virtues and growing in them. It’s about understanding that holiness is possible — if virtues, including the supernatural ones of faith, hope, and charity, are part of your pursuit of excellence.
Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, in Abandonment to Divine Providence, writes eloquently about how faith can act as a powerful way to fuel our relationship with God and transform our lives:
“Faith transforms the earth into a paradise. By it, our hearts are raised with the joy of our nearness to heaven. Every moment reveals God to us. Faith is our light in this life. By it, we know the truth without seeing it; we are put in touch with what we cannot feel, recognize what we cannot see, and view the world stripped of all its outer shell. Faith unlocks God’s treasury. It is the key to all the vastness of His wisdom.
“The emptiness of all created things is disclosed by faith, and it is by faith that God reveals Himself … With faith, all that is dark becomes light, and what is bitter becomes sweet. Faith transforms ugliness into beauty, and malice into kindness.
“Faith is the mother of tenderness, trust, and joy … There is nothing faith cannot overcome; it passes beyond all shadows and through the darkest clouds to reach the truth, which it embraces and can never be parted from.”
If your faith is weak, or you don’t think you are capable of striving for holiness, then read the following for inspiration.
“To be holy does not mean being superior to others; the saint can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life,” Pope Benedict XVI said in 2005. “Holiness is this profound contact with God, becoming a friend of God: it is letting the Other work, the Only One who can really make the world both good and happy. … Truly we are all capable, we are all called to open ourselves up to this friendship with God, to not leave the hands of God, to not neglect to turn and return to the Lord, speaking with Him as if speaking with a friend, knowing well that the Lord really is a true friend of everyone, including those who cannot do great things by themselves.”
Pope Benedict XVI hits the nail on the head.
To grow in sanctity, which is part of the pathway of a next-door saint, our focus should be on being fully open to God’s Love and on seeking a relationship with Him — through prayer, through praise, through gratitude, through seeking the Sacraments and through accepting His will.
Powered by this friendship with, and faith in, God, and with the self-sacrificial example of Christ as a role model, these saints are ready to lead others with their hearts full of love.
Next-door saints may have remained hidden in the ordinariness and humbleness of their work before the pandemic erupted, but during these times, like all great leaders do, they have shone luminously.
St. Anthony of Padua puts it more poetically:
“Saints are like the stars. In His providence, Christ conceals them in a hidden place that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so. Yet they are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy as soon as they perceive in their heart the invitation of Christ.”