November 1, 2016
Editor’s note: Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1, 2015, at Saint John XXIII University Parish in Knoxville, TN. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; Psalm 24; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a.
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! I’m so excited! Today is my favorite feast day of the church year, and for the first time since I’ve been ordained, it’s on a Sunday! Yes, today is the Solemnity of All Saints!
Today, we celebrate all the people who are in heaven or will be in heaven with God. We celebrate not just those well-known individuals whom the Church has canonized. We celebrate the huge multitude of unknown saints. There may be people we’ve known in our lives – such as our grandparents or our great-grandparents – who are already part of that multitude.
But many people have a limited idea of what it means to be a saint. They think only of mellow people, people out of touch with the “real” world, perhaps sitting on clouds. But the saints run the whole gamut of personality types, races, and cultures. Dorothy Day famously said, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” God destines all of us to be saints. Let’s celebrate that!
On some days, religion seems difficult to understand. We are plagued with doubts and questions. Does God exist? What’s the righteous thing to do? Why should we give of ourselves for the sake of others? In a secular world, where some people claim there is no code of conduct, in a society that values independence and personal gain, it can be difficult to do the right thing.
But today is not one of those days. Today, we celebrate all the people throughout time who have made God come alive before our very eyes. We celebrate the people who have shown how the world can be transformed by living in the light of Christ.
It’s also a day when we sing some of my favorite music. No matter the particular song, the message is the same: we can do this! We each have the potential to be saints! Granted, the beatitudes of our gospel are not always the easiest thing to carry out, but none of them are beyond our abilities when we live in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes, we forget that the saints were not – and are not – perfect. Dorothy Day thirsted for righteousness with every fiber of her being, but she was considered a political radical. Francis of Assisi was a peacemaker, but he didn’t get along with his father. Frances Cabrini was merciful in her care for orphans, children, and immigrants, but she was stubborn. Real people, in the real world. Real saints.
What do all the saints have in common? I’m sure we can come up with a whole list of traits that the saints share. But I’d like to offer one to consider today: every saint has hope. The saints are the people who have sufficient confidence that the Kingdom of God is real, that we can see it, and touch it, and taste it.
The Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright wrote a book in 2008 called Surprised By Hope. Wright says that we Christians don’t talk about hope very much these days, even though the early Christians framed their whole understanding of discipleship around the idea of hope. The core of our hope should be our belief in the resurrection of the body. We Christians have the sure and certain hope that we, too, will be united with Christ in heaven, body and soul, on the Last Day. Too often, we water down our beliefs about life after death, implying that we’ll each simply become a disembodied soul after we die – a mellow and inconsequential being, the kind of “saint” that Dorothy Day didn’t want to be. If we believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected, we reclaim that God’s creation is good, that God has intended each of us to play a specific role in bringing the kingdom to its fulfillment. We reclaim the purpose of the Church. We reclaim the clarity of our mission as disciples. We reclaim our potential to become saints. We reclaim that we are people who are physical signs, sacraments of the Kingdom of God.
The Church spends the month of November each year remembering those who have died. And yes, we can expect some pangs of sadness as we think of our dearly departed friends and family. But the Church begins this month with this great solemnity, this great celebration of hope. Let’s keep that in mind as we continue through this month, especially as the days get shorter and colder, and the crunch of final exams approaches. God wants all of us to be saints. God destines each of us for heaven. And God has given each of us the gifts to get there.
What will the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection, look like? I envision something similar to the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, sort of the ultimate parade of nations. With music blaring and crowds cheering, people will stream into heaven, a great multitude which no one can count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. Sure, there will be superstars like Dorothy Day, Francis of Assisi, and Frances Cabrini whom many people will know, but they will be joined by people from the remotest corners of the world, from countries we couldn’t find on a map, from times and cultures we never studied in school. In that moment, we will fully realize the great communion in which we already participate, those who have strived to live in hope. We will be numbered among the people who – with the grace of the Holy Spirit – strived to live out the beatitudes. All the hard work will be in the past, and finally, we will see the face of God.