Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 1, 2015 - Nov 1: All Saints
[Rev 7:2-4,9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matt 5:1-12a]"See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are." [1 John]
There's an old joke about the pastor who comes into a grade school classroom to talk about sainthood. He asks the class, "How many of you want to become saints?" All hands but one go up. He asks the little boy who didn't raise his hand, "Don't you want to become a saint?" The little boy shakes his head and says, "No, Father!" The pastor asks, "Why not?" The little boy responds, "Cuz they're all dead!" A sound understanding of sainthood could take care of the little boy's worries! Sainthood is not about the deceased. It is about baptism. The feast of All Saints is not just about the "canonized" saints, it is about ALL saints, canonized or not.
We are all called to "holiness," to sainthood, if you will. The Second Vatican Council made it clear that sanctity is not the privilege of a holy elite. It is a matter of taking our baptismal identity and commitment seriously. Some Christians succeed at this to such a noticeable degree that the Church officially and publicly holds them up before the community as examples of holiness. We call this "canonization." The old expression is "lifting to the altar," presumably because some kind of image of them can be displayed in a church for public devotion. But the vast majority of saints are not canonized. They are ordinary people who love God and neighbor and try to live according to Jesus' teachings on a day to day basis. One does not have to be dead to be a saint!
On the feast of All Saints we can celebrate holiness wherever it can be found alive or deceased, and be grateful for all those wonderful men and women whose example has inspired us to greater efforts as baptized members of the Body of Christ. We are indeed "children of God." AMEN
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