Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 1, 2014 - Nov. 1 - All Saints
[Rev 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matt 5:1-12a,]"These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb." [Revelations]
I am in the process of reading a very long book (over 1,000 pages) entitled WHY CAN THE DEAD DO SUCH GREAT THINGS? by a scholar named Robert Bartlett. It is about saints and sainthood in the Catholic Church from the earliest Christian community up to the time of the Reformation! The title comes from a comment by St. Augustine. One wonders how many pages would be required for the rest of the period up to today! The sheer thoroughness of the study points out that saints and sainthood have been with us from the very outset of Christianity, beginning with the apostles and first martyrs.
Some of the saints were locally venerated and "canonized." Others gradually became universally respected and made their way onto the larger liturgical calendar of the church, especially after the pope finally claimed sole authority to declare someone a saint in the church. (The old expression is "raised to the altar!") The quotation from the Book of Revelation indicates that veneration of the dead who were thought to be faithful is quite ancient, indeed!
The book I am reading makes another thing very clear. There is no one mold from which saints are made! The variety is enormous and could include you and me, which I think is the whole point. God has not called a certain few to be saints. We are all called by God to be saints by virtue of our baptism! In celebrating the feast of All Saints, we celebrate not only the deceased holy ones, we celebrate the entire "Communion of Saints" which includes the living as well. Keeping the faith is the best way to stay in that communion and to be part of that celebration! AMEN
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