Does not a roll of honour containing such people and a multitude like them, make us proud to belong to God’s Church?  For, just as soldiers identify with the victories of their army, so do we, fellow-soldiers with the Saints, regard their triumph for Christ and his Church as our triumph also.  So when our religion is attacked, we can quickly put things in their right perspective by comparing its scoffers with its champions.

Even more valuable is the example of a holy Christian life which the saints have left us.  When we are tempted to think that the holiness of Christ and the standard which he requires are beyond human attainment, the lives and victory of the Saints prove precisely the contrary; and we gather renewed hope as we reflect on the perfection which, by using God’s grace, they have already achieved, and which therefore we can achieve too.