Tomorrow, in St Peter’s Square, John Henry Cardinal Newman will be canonised, before huge crowds of the faithful.

We can do no better than to quote from his writings. The following extract shows us the sanctity for which he strove, and which by the grace of God he gained:

‘Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shinest: so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from Thee. None of it will be mine. No merit to me. It will be Thou who shinest through me upon others. O let me thus praise Thee, in the way which Thou dost love best, by shining on all those around me. Give light to them as well as to me; light them with me, through me. Teach me to show forth Thy praise, Thy truth, Thy will. Make me preach Thee without preaching—not by words, but by my example and by the catching force, the sympathetic influence, of what I do—by my visible resemblance to Thy saints, and the evident fullness of the love which my heart bears to Thee’.

We pray that tomorrow’s celebrations will go forward peacefully and joyfully. May God bless you this day.