When was the last time you responded to your spouse, parents, or God with a holy sense of urgency?

We live in an age of meaninglessness because we have lost sight of the fact that our very purpose is to serve God and others. God wants to fill us with a holy sense of urgency. Every day people are losing hope. God seems far from them. They feel forgotten, invisible, unloved. So much is at stake. God wants to teach us to love God and neighbor with this holy sense of urgency.

Saint Peter Orseolo is someone who answered God’s call with holy urgency, even when it meant stepping down from a place of honor to a place of near-anonymity.

Peter Orseolo was the Doge of Venice, the highest position of authority in the land. But at the height of his worldly power, he experienced the spiritual power of God telling him his place was not in a castle, but in a monastery. He responded with a holy sense of urgency, secretly fleeing Venice to a monastery in the mountains, where he spent the rest of his life. 

Saint Peter Orseolo left everything behind: all his titles, possessions, and his family. No one knew where he was for many years, and he would not be declared a saint until about 750 years after his death. But none of this mattered to him. What mattered was urgently following God’s holy call.

We can do the same with God and neighbor. When our spouse, friend, or manager asks us to do something, we can respond with an enthusiasm to serve. These are often the channels through which God himself is asking something of us. And whenever God asks us to do something, may we have the courage to respond with a holy sense of urgency.

Symbols: Monk Attire

Feast Day: January 10

Feast Day Shared by: Saint Agatone, Saint Agatho, Blessed Pope Gregory X, and Pope Saint Miltiades

Canonized: 1731

Canonized by: Pope Clement XII