THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS
First Reading: Rev 7:2-4.9-14
Ps 24:1-6
Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-3
Gospel: Mt 5: 1-12
Ancient Rome held “Triumphs”, victory parades for generals and troops returning after winning a battle. The procession into the city resembled that of a religious one and the victorious general was treated like a god for a day or two.
Even though the celebration of a feast for all the saints have its origins in the reburial of the remains of the martyrs in the previous pagan temple to “ all the gods”, I like to see the celebration of All Saints as God’s victory parade.
It is the day on which the pilgrim church “shows off” and brags about her God. One by one the saints are paraded past the faithful who repeat the question posed by the elder in John’s vision in the book of revelation: “ Who are these and where do they come from?”
This is where the fun begins! There are all sorts among them: young and old, make and female, religious and ordained, kings and paupers, mother’s and fathers. They are truly from “every tongue and tribe and people and nation” Imagine a child standing next to his/ parent at a heroes parade asking: And this one? Who is she? And he, what has he done? The parent excitedly points to each one and patiently relates the gist of each one’s story of how a sinner became a saint. Look what God has accomplished in and through their lives.
They all have one thing in common though: They have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them clean in the blood of the lamb.
It is the triumph of the grace of God that we are celebrating. Reminding ourselves that the call to holiness is universal and that it is the vocation of all the baptised. Holiness is described by the church as a life lived with heroic faith.
It has nothing to do with spiritual perfection, but rather with a recognition of sinfulness and a genuine process of conversion, a deep desire for God, cooperating with God’s grace and utilising all the ordinary instruments of the life of faith: The celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, the reading of the Word of God and witness, contemplative prayer, penance and doing good for the sake of God. This is how they became, and we are to become the merciful, the long suffering, the pure of heart, the gentle, the peacemakers, the mournful, the poor in spirit of the Beatitudes. One thing that strikes me about the saints is that they did not consider themselves to be such and would have been dismayed by all the acclaim and focus placed on them since all they wanted was to glorify God by their lives.
The saints were fixed on heaven yet fully engaged in transforming the face of the earth, relieving suffering, educating, opposing injustice, reading and responding to the signs of the times. They demonstrate to us that holiness is not simply a lofty ideal, but that it can be done and is within our reach.
Today’s feast honours the obscure as well as the famous, and the saints each of us have known. At the same time it reinforces the command of Christ to the disciples, to us, as we are, where we are today: “Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy.” (Mt 5:48)