The universal call to holiness

There's a brief article on zenit.org about Pope Benedict's All Saints' Day Angelus address, in which the Pope reminded his audience that all people are called to sainthood. An excerpt:

"Before praying the Angelus on Thursday, All Saints' Day, with those gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope clarified the misconception that sainthood is only for the 'chosen few.' In fact, he added, 'to become a saint is the task of every Christian, and what's more, we could even say it's the task of everyone!'

"The Holy Father said that that the Christian is already holy, 'because baptism unites him to Jesus and the paschal mystery, but at the same time he has to become holy, conforming himself to Jesus ever more intimately.'

"He said that God invites everyone to form part of his holy people, and that the path to holiness is through 'Christ, the son, the Holy One of God: No one reaches the Father if not through him.'"

The thing to remember is that no one can become holy on their own. It is only through God's grace that anyone can become holy. God continually offers that grace to all of us, but we are free to refuse it, as most of us usually do. What we have to do, in order to become all that we were created to be, is accept God's grace and cooperate with it.