Who are the saints?  1 John 3:1-3 tells us that the saints are those whom the Father has called his children and live in the hope of seeing Christ on the last day and becoming like him. Jesus identified what kind of people are saints and their way of life when he taught his disciples in Matthew 5.

The saints are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the gentle and humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness in their actions, are merciful, have hearts that are pure, make peace, are persecuted, insulted, and lied about.  Saints are followers of Jesus, who died and rose again, that his disciples could be blessed.  Saints are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, who light the world around them.

Saints are those to whom Christ will welcome into his Father’s Kingdom as the blessed ones.  But they will be completely surprised when Jesus tells them they have been visiting him, giving him something to eat, welcoming him, providing him clothes all along.  They will ask, “Who? Us?  When did we do that stuff, for you?”  Jesus will say, when you visited the poor, fed the hungry, healed the gentle and humble, did righteous deeds, helped without being duplicitous, backed the peacemakers, and those who were insulted, abused and bullied, and stood up for the persecuted.