All Saints
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. We often focus our attention on the Saints’ awful martyrdoms and inspiring miracles. That’s fair, since our process for canonizing Saints requires verifiable miracles, but what does today’s liturgy teach us? Who and what are saints?
When Saint John saw his visions of heaven, he saw people of every nation, race, people, and tongue. In heaven, we retain our identity, including our nationality, race, and language. We are not all the same, like whipped potatoes – we are distinct and distinctively ourselves. If our high opinion of ourselves makes us imagine that only people like us are Saints, or our low opinion of ourselves makes us imagine that only people very unlike us are Saints, then Saint John’s vision should make it clear that we are mistaken. Sainthood is equally impossible for everyone, and yet a gift God desires to give each of us, if we will cooperate with God’s graces at work in our lives.
Saint John sees the Saints prostrate themselves before the Lord, and worship God. Sainthood isn’t about the Saint. Sainthood is about the Lord. We do not worship Saints. We honor Saints, because of their holy lives, and their closeness to God. We ask them to pray for us, because they behold the very face of God. When we honor a Saint, we are really honoring the God who made them holy, preserved them in difficulty, and does the impossible in response to their intercessions.
Saint John sees that the saints are washed white in the Blood of the Lamb.
Saints are not perfect. This was something that confused me when I was first studying the church. As I began to read the writings of the early church, I read Saint Clement’s letter to the Corinthians. In his letter, Saint Clement refers to the legend of the Phoenix as if it were a fact. AHA! I said – see, the Roman church must be wrong, because they say Clement is a Saint, but we all know there is no such thing as a phoenix. Since Clement was wrong about the phoenix, he isn’t perfect, and if he isn’t perfect, then he isn’t a Saint.
But, I was mistaken. The Church teaches us clearly that the Saints are not perfect. In fact, many of our Saints were especially UN-holy before they were converted in their hearts. Sometimes, Saints held wrong theological opinions. A few Saints even followed the wrong Pope, when there was more than one Pope elected. A Saint is not perfect; a Saint is someone who has been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. This should give us hope. Although we are imperfect, we also can be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
The Gospel describes for us the character of a Saint.
They are poor in spirit. We have no spiritual riches. We come to God with nothing, and receive grace. Everything we have or do is directly or indirectly a gift from God. Our lives, our good deeds – everything is a gift.
They mourn. We can only mourn our spiritual poverty. We are nothing before and without God. All of us, even the Saints, are empty and sinful, unless we are filled by God.
They are meek. Meekness is true humility, which makes the Saint self-aware. The meek person is not overcome by anger arising from within. The meek person humbly acknowledges their strengths, and their weaknesses, because both are a gift from God.
They hunger and thirst for righteousness. Righteousness, here, is correctly translated as justice, rather than holiness. Saints desire for others to be treated justly the way that we desire for water after working outside on a hot and dusty day.
They are merciful. Saints know they are washed in the blood of the lamb. It amazes me when I read the writings of the Saints, and see how much they are aware of their sin. They, who are holy, appreciate the gift of mercy, so they show it to others.
They are clean of heart. Christ teaches us that all sorts of evil and sin come from our hearts. A clean heart is one that is purified of attachments to this world, and especially to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. The Church teaches us that “The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed ‘so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.’”
They are peacemakers. A peacemaker is not simply someone who finds a compromise everyone can tolerate. That is a diplomat, or a mediator. A peacemaker is someone who brings people into relationship with the king of peace, Jesus Christ.
They are persecuted and insulted. Saints are almost universally hated and persecuted by the world, and very often even by those within the Church. Our Lord was persecuted and insulted. He promises us the same. But even persecution is a gift, because it helps us become detached from this world, and cling more tightly to God from whom all things flow.
On this feast of All Saints, we celebrate the victory of weak humans over powerful evil. The Saints are not super-heroes, but ordinary people who submitted themselves to the work of the Holy Spirit one day at a time. Each of us is called by our baptism to sainthood, and, if we will allow it, then God will give us the grace to fulfill that calling.
