Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints

Fra Angelico, “The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs” (c. 1423-24)

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
 1 John 3:1-3
 Matthew 5:1-12a


Today's feast day and holy day of obligation is a reminder to us all just what it is that we are called to be, and where we are called to make our ultimate destination. We know that the Church has quite literally canonized many thousands of Saints whose feasts have found their way into various places on the ecclesiastical calendar. For most of us, in our own time we have had the honor and the pleasure of seeing many great Saints recognized by the Church, and their holiness correctly placed as an example for all of us to follow. Most recently, we have seen the canonization of Saints John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and John Henry Cardinal Newman. Many of us have seen other great Saints canonized in our lifetimes, and these events have rightly made headlines in both the religious and secular world.


The Church officially declaring someone to be among the Canon of the Saints, however, is merely an official recognition by the church that this person lived a life with and for Jesus Christ and in His companionship and friendship, and as a result of that, the Church can officially declare because of the evidence, that this person is among the saints, they are among the holy who are in Heaven with God.

Not every saint will be canonized, however. The reality is that most will not. The reason for this is because being a saint is not some special dignity conferred upon someone by the Church after they are dead-that's merely a recognition of the obvious. Being a saint of God is what you and I are called to be right now, in this life, among our neighbors in the world today. A life of Holiness-a life of saintliness-is the life of a Christian. The Latin word for saint, sancte, literally translates as "holy," and the early Christians understood that this kind of holiness is what should distinguish all Christians. "Saint" is what they called one another.


In more than one of St Paul's Epistles, he refers to the believers in Christ as "the saints." St Jude, in his General Epistle or Catholic epistle, calls on believers to "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." (cf. Jude 1:3) When the Lord spoke to Ananias and told him that Paul was coming to see him, his first reaction was to say "Lord I have heard how much evil he man has done to your Saints at Jerusalem…" (cf. Acts 9:13) in the epistle to the Romans, Paul tells believers to "contribute to the needs of the saints." (cf. Romans 12:13) When Paul is warning fellow Christians against filing lawsuits against each other, he tells them that it is better to go before the saints then before the law of the unrighteous. (1 Corinthians 6:1) He warned the Ephesians against immorality because that is not behavior befitting saints. (cf. Ephesians 6:18) The writer to the Hebrews tells the Christians in Palestine to greet their leaders "and all the saints." (cf. Hebrews 13:24) To the early Christians, being a saint, holy one, wasn't just something that the Church recognized of people after they died-although that absolutely did happen-but being a saint and living as one is something that all Christians are called to be and to do. If the apostles were here with us today, they would refer to us as saints, that is how they referred to their fellow believers.


Pope Saint John Paul II wrote and spoke repeatedly about the universal call to Holiness. That great Pope understood that Holiness is the call of every single Christian, it's not only reserved for a few, and certainly not only for those that the Church has officially recognized for their sanctity. Indeed, those people whose sanctity the Church has officially recognized are simply a sampling of the Holy people that have graced the lives of many through the centuries. Those who the Church recognizes in an official way seem to be a great number to us, but there have been many others who truly lived their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ and the spread of his Gospel message, many people who live the Christian Life in such a way as to be an example to those around them, but who may not be well-known to their local bishop or to the authorities of the Church.


 The book of Revelation refers to the number of the Saints as a number which no man could number, and so even taking into account Jesus' admonition to us that the gate to Heaven is narrow and few will find it, we know from Sacred Scripture itself that many people have made it to Heaven over the centuries whose names are not known to us, but they are saints nonetheless. These people lived out their baptismal call to Holiness as best they understood how to do it, and they lived their lives for Jesus Christ as we are all called to do.


Sainthood is not merely for those who are publicly declared by the church to be Saints, as great an honor as that is, and as much as those who have been so declared certainly deserve it. Sanctity is what we are all called to live as followers of Christ.


 This feast is the feast for all of those people which Sacred Scripture mentions who are part of the Kingdom of God, part of the Church triumphant in Heaven, but we will never find their names on the Church's calendar. In our hearts and minds, we might have some inkling of who some of them are, but none of us are in a position to say that for sure, but God knows each one of them by name, and today we honor them, today is their feast day.


It is a day for all of us as well, a day for us to be reminded of our call to live and be Saints. If we live as a friend of Christ, if we serve Him, if we are living the sacramental life, if we are striving to live out the call of God in this world today, the apostles call us saints. Let this great feast with a reminder to us of our baptismal call to live out the Holiness of Jesus Christ in our every day life.


 Holiness is not just for priests or deacons or bishops, and it's not just for those whose causes are approved by the congregation for the causes of saints, people who were and are holy before God, but can seem distant to us because we fail to see that all of them were recognized because they did exactly what we were called to do. According to their state in life, they lived the call to holiness.


 To quote the late Mother Angelica, "we are all called to be great Saints, don't miss the opportunity!"

Hallowe'en

I've never been terribly big on the celebration of Halloween. This might be because various pagan religions and rites not only still celebrate October 31 as some sort of high religious festival-most notably Wiccans and other practitioners of the Occult. The whole day just makes me uneasy. Maybe it is because the Church was not very successful in de-paganizing the day, despite her best efforts. We call it Hallowe'en because it falls on the vigil of one of the most important Holy Days of the year.

Perhaps I don't particularly care for it because it can rightly be said that it was on this day-October 31, 1517-that the division and schism of Western Christendom began in earnest. It is not a day that Catholics who believe in the unity of the Church might find terribly celebratory.

Maybe I don't care for Halloween because the USS Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk today in 1941. I had a Great Uncle on my Mother's side who I never met who died on the Reuben James long before I was born. Paganism, schism, and the first American deaths in World War II make today not the greatest of festival days-good Catholics ought not relish paganism, schism, and war-but should pray for the conversion of pagans, the healing of divisions among us, and the victims of war.

"Oh David," you might say "you are such a party pooper, for think of the children enjoying themselves today, going trick-or-treat." I haven't forgotten the kids, and I enjoyed trick-or-treat when I was their age as much as they do. Today, the other members of the Fire Department and myself will be enjoying our annual picnic and chili supper while we all hand out candy to the children, and we might invite a few of those kids to join us, because while other children in the community are out roaming the streets, the children of the firefighters in our town will be enjoying a more wholesome family atmosphere and plenty of good food with the rest of us.

It has to be admitted, though, that there is an ulterior motive other than trick-or-treat for choosing Halloween as the night that our local firemen and emergency response team gather for their annual night of food and controlled family hyperactivity. Halloween is usually one of the biggest nights of the year for fires or other similar incidents, either because someone is trying to play some juvenile prank, or someone finds some "other significance" in setting fire to something tonight-and most Halloween fires are often found to be intentionally set. If all of the firefighters are at the Fire Hall for a social gathering, they will all be there if and when those pagers go off. Last year, for the first time that I can recall since being a part of the team here at WPFD, there was not a fire on Halloween Night. This year, I am sure everyone here wants to make it two years in a row with no Halloween fire.

Next time you get to thinking that those of us who don't really like Halloween are just party poopers, remember that it is probably because there is too much that has happened on October 31st that isn't worth a party-unless you go to a vigil Mass tonight, that is.