The Solemnity of
All Saints
Quincy Notre Dame High School
Mr.
McDowell, teachers and staff, honored visitors, my dear young friends: it is indeed
a great pleasure to celebrate this Solemnity of All Saints with you here in the
Gem City!
Today
the Apostle John offers what may well be the best answer to any question posed
by a teacher: “My lord, you are the one who knows” (Revelation 7:14). Your teachers may not give you full credit
for the answer, but they may at least give you extra credit for being clever.
There
are some people who seem to skate through life, as it were, on extra credit,
without ever really investing themselves fully into their projects and
duties. They count on their charm,
charisma, or cleverness, but do not know the satisfaction of an honest attempt
or the growth that comes from failure.
In
his vision of the heavenly court, Saint John the Beloved certainly does not
find himself in the presence of those who merely ambled their way into
heaven. No, these men and women “wearing
white robes and holding palm branches in their hands” are those who “have
survived the time of great distress” (Revelation 7:9, 14). It is no accident that they are standing
before the throne of God.
As
we contemplate the lives of the Saints, of those who have made themselves pure
out of love for God (cf. I John 3:3), we often wonder how they did so. How did they keep their hands sinless and
their hearts clean (cf. Psalm 24:4)?
We
are told that the seal of the servants of God was placed on their foreheads
(cf. Revelation 7:3). Elsewhere we are
told that this seal is the sign of the tau, the Greek letter T; the seal of the
servants of God is the Cross (cf. Ezekiel 9:4).
On
the day of our Baptisms, a priest traced the Sign of the Cross on our foreheads
and as he did so, he said, “I now claim you for Christ our Savior by the Sign
of his Cross.” When the Bishop confirmed
us with the Sacred Chrism, he again traced the Sign of the Cross on our
foreheads, saying, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The Saints, too, have been sealed in the same
way. What is it, then, that
differentiates us from them?
Throughout
their lives – or at least toward the end of their lives – they longed to ascend
the mountain of the Lord and to stand in his holy place (cf. Psalm 24:3). Put perhaps more simply, they wanted – more
than anything else – to be with God, to look upon the beauty of his face (cf.
Psalm 24:6). Each of the Saints
recognized the truth of Saint Augustine’s words: “You stir man to pleasure in
praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless
until it rests in you.”[1] Do you not know this to be true?
All
of the Saints survived the time of great distress by remaining near the Cross
of the Lord. They heard Jesus’
invitation: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23); they heard these words and they did
not shy away. They remembered that they
were sealed with this very sign, that they were claimed for Christ, that they
were not their own because they were purchased at the price of the Blood of the
Son of God (cf. I Corinthians 6:20).
Each
of them encountered their own time of great distress. For some, it was religious persecution and
martyrdom; for others, rejection by their family and friends; for some, the
renunciation of wealth; still for others, a battle with pride or a period of
spiritual dryness. In all of this, they
clung to Jesus Christ and to his Cross.
How
many forms the time of great distress has taken in our own day! There is the great distress of divorce and
abortion; of unreturned love and feelings of inadequacy. There is the distress of economic ruin and
the destruction of powerful storms. And
with these distresses, the distresses of the Saints’ remain. Yet even so, hope resounds: “These are the
ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). In the lives of the Saints, we learn, as
J.R.R. Tolkien said, “The Christian still has to work, with mind as well as
body, to suffer, hope, and die; but he may now perceive that all his bents and
faculties have a purpose, which can be redeemed.”[2]
Looking
upon the glory of the Saints, we see our own weakness. Saint John the Baptist and Saint Thomas More
gave up their lives in defense of the sanctity of marriage. Saint Gianna Molla gave up her life to give
birth to her child. Saint Damien de
Vuester and Saint Marianne Cope risked their health to care for the lepers on
Moloka’i. Saint Clare followed Saint
Francis and renounced her social status to gain a life of poverty. Saint Thomas Aquinas put his great intellect
at the service of the Church and Saint Therese of Lisieux showed us the Little Way
of love.
There
are a great many other Saints, of course, each of whom who has given something
unique to the Church. Looking upon the
Saints, we wonder: Can I really be like them?
Can I be holy? Can I really be a
Saint? The answer is, quite simply and honestly,
yes. Yes, I can be a Saint, and so can
each of you. What is necessary for us to
be holy is to remember that the seal of the servants of God has been placed on
our foreheads. In their personalities
and dispositions and in the circumstances of their lives, the Saints are just
like us.
We
think ourselves unworthy of being admitted to their great company, but that
decision is not up to us. We have to remember,
as Tolkien said: “But in God’s kingdom the presence of the greatest does not
depress the small. Redeemed Man is still
man.”[3] The Lord Jesus calls us his friends and wants
us to be with him; who are we to refuse his friendship (cf. John 15:15)?
The
Saints knew that friends become like their friends. So it was that they looked to the Cross to
learn the hidden beauty of the Beatitudes.
In the Eucharist, Saint Damien recognized the “one and only companion
who will never leave me,” the one who is the “most tender of friends with souls
who seek to please him.” He encourages
us, as do all of the Saints:
His goodness knows how to proportion itself to the smallest of His
creatures as to the greatest of them. Be not afraid then in your solitary
conversations, to tell Him of your miseries, your fears, your worries, of those
who are dear to you, of your projects, and of your hopes. Do so with confidence
and with an open heart.
This familiarity with the Lord is the key to the
holiness of the Saints; it is the key to our holiness, as well.
The
Saints, each in their own way, sought to imitate him who gave his life for
us. These men and women became his
presence in the world; they became wells of love and beacons of hope.
When
he announced this Year of Faith, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI said, “What
the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people
enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening
the hearts and minds of many who desire for true life, life without end.”[4]
If
you, my brothers and sisters, remain close to the Cross of our Lord; if you do
not flee from it but instead embrace it; if you let your heart rest in God;
then you will be such a credible witness and you will be holy. To be sure, this is not an easy task, but it
is a worthy one and to this you are called.
You have been made for greatness; do not shy away from it!
As
you strive for holiness, be not concerned with the opinions of your peers or of
society, but keep in mind the wisdom of Gandalf the Grey: “All we have to
decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”[5] What will you do with the time that is given
you? Will you seek to ascend the
mountain of the Lord? Will you seek his
face? He is calling you; do not stay
away from him. Be a saint! What else is there?
[1] Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1.1, Henry Chadwick, trans.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 3.
[2] J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy
Stories,” in Tales from the Perilous
Realm (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), 389.
[3] J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy
Stories,” in Tales from the Perilous
Realm (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), 389.
[4] Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei, 15.
[5] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the
Rings (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1994), 50.
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