Here are kings and queens who, in their exalted position, knew how to be humble, and who used their wealth and position for the benefit of their subjects. Here are representatives of all professions and trades in society--lawyers, physicians, soldiers, tradesmen, and cultivators of the soil. Here, too, are the servants of the rich, who thought it a kindness to be allowed to do all drudgery, in order to have wherewith to live. Here are good husbands and wives, who truly loved each other, and were faithful unto death. Here are those good parents whose first care was to teach their children the knowledge and love of God. Here, too, are the good children who honored their parents, and cared for them with a tender charity, when age and infirmity had rendered them helpless. Here, too, are young men, and young women, who, though they had no call to consecrate their virginity to Jesus Christ, led the lives of angels amid the fascinations of the world. All these have led pious lives. They mortified their passions; they were given to prayer; they frequented the sacraments; they performed acts of charity according to their means; and practised the virtues of their rank and calling. All these have, therefore, reached the honors and distinctions which God distributes among them who have served Him with fidelity. Though they are neither martyrs, nor doctors, nor religious, they all led holy lives; they all have received a "crown of justice," which was due to them as a reward for their love of God, and for the virtues they practised while on earth. Many of them were great saints, such as a St. Louis, king of France; a St. Elizabeth, queen of Portugal; a St. Monica, widow; a St. Genevieve, the virgin-shepherdess; a St. Zita, the angelic servant-girl; and many others, whom the Church has placed upon her altars, and proposed to our imitation. You see, then, that the high honors of heaven do not belong, exclusively, to any privileged classes, as you might imagine the martyrs, doctors, virgins, and religious to be. A high degree of glory is offered to all, and by the grace of God is attainable by all, without any exception. If, therefore, you have hitherto looked upon it as a presumption to aim at a high degree of glory, because you were neither a consecrated virgin nor a religious, banish such a thought from your mind. For, instead of being a presumption, it is a virtue to aspire to a high sanctity, and, consequently, to a high degree of union with God in heaven. Therefore, whether you are married or single, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, you are called upon by your Lord Jesus to fight the good fight unto the end, with a solemn assurance that, when you have finished your course, a just Judge will encircle your brow with a "crown of justice," and admit you into the society of those who signalized themselves in His service.