The Healing Journey

February 6, 2026

“He was conscious all his life that he was facing a young death, yet his emphasis was on living.”
— Robert Ellsberg

Throughout history, saints have come in all different sizes, shapes and temperaments. Some are contemplative, some are active. Some are nuns, some are priests, and some are just ordinary people. Many were in the religious life, some were married, and some were widows. Many were old and many were children.

For more than 25 years, Robert Ellsberg has been writing about saints — formally canonized saints like Francis of Assisi and others who lived a life of sacrifice for others like Martin Luther King Jr. and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Ellsberg, whose self-described occupation is “saint watcher,” is author of seven books about saints and the Editor-in-chief and Publisher of Orbis Books.

His signature work is “All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets and Witnesses for Our Time.” He also writes a daily reflection on saints titled “Blessed Among Us” for “Give Us This Day,” published by the Liturgical Press.

Ellsberg said, “One of my reflections was about Mattie Stepanek, who died in 2004 at the age of 13 from a hereditary disease. He was conscious all his life that he was facing a young death, yet his emphasis was on living. In his short, grace-filled life, he became an ambassador for peace, publishing best-selling books of poetry, befriending Jimmy Carter (who gave the eulogy at his funeral), teaching religious education classes in his parish, and touching countless people with his remarkable witness to the gift of life. A guild is currently promoting his cause for canonization.

“Afterward I received a message from his mother, who recognized my name but couldn’t immediately place it. However, in going through a box of Mattie’s things, she suddenly remembered, and sent me a picture. It was a copy of All Saints, which she said Mattie kept checking out of the library every two weeks until he could afford to buy his own copy.

This was a new experience, but also a confirmation of why I write these reflections: So that somewhere, somebody might read these stories and imagine a different way of living, and ask themselves, ‘What if I should live like Mattie Stepanek?’”

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