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All Saints’ Day
Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
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All Saints' Day
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Scripture citation(s): Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17
✛
Deceptively Ordinary People
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Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come? Rev 7:2-4, 9-17
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
At Saint Thomas we celebrate three great feasts of Christ with the highest solemnity, plus one. The three feasts are Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. The plus one is the Feast of All Saints. You could say that this last, the fourth, is the harvest of the first three; namely, it is the triumphs of Christ in particular human lives.
The glory of God, said a great theologian, is man fully alive. That is what the saints are. They are men, women and children fully alive – created by God, redeemed by Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living their lives as God intends to the fullest.
The Church has a Hall of Fame for its saints. These are the capital S saints of universal recognition. It begins in Scripture. The anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews has an inspiring list of heroes of faith from the Old Testament, and it refers to them as a “great cloud of witnesses” that surround us to encourage us by their examples, to assist us with their prayers, and to strengthen us by their fellowship in the Spirit.
We move on to the heroes of the New Testament, to John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Thomas, Paul and Barnabas; to Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha of Bethany, above all to the Mother of Christ herself, the Blessed Virgin Mary. But the holiness doesn’t end with the completion of the New Testament. There are saints in the Church’s Hall of Fame from every generation, saints who illustrate the victory of Christ in every sort of life. There are monarchs, bishops and priests, nuns and monks, husbands and wives and mothers and fathers, children whose lives were brief and brilliant, servants of the sick and poor, fighters for justice, martyrs for the Name of Jesus, members of every race and nation, of every station in life – all showing that sanctity is something that occurs everywhere, and that there is glory in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. If we think back through our own lives we see that we have known sanctity in people and have encountered saints on their way to heaven. “There are some that have no memorial, but these were men of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.”
As a child I learned love and affection, faith in God, the first principles of life, the difference between right and wrong, the importance of courage in standing up for what is right. My mother and father, grandparents, kind aunts and uncles and cousins began this education. Then came school and church and the mentors they provide. A high school English teacher spoke powerfully against racial prejudice. A Sunday school teacher made the stories of the Bible and the exploits of its heroes vivid, because she loved them and seemed to live them herself. One day she told my mother she thought I would become a minister, and a great bell rang in my soul.
Speaking of clergy, one minister, in a sermon I heard at a critical moment as a youth, said that no matter what happened, no matter how scary things could get, you could always depend on God to be there. God was the ground you could stand on. I wondered how he knew what was going on in my family’s home the night before. Years later two priests – dedicated, wise, happy and humorous men of God – displayed in their ministries the reasons that persuaded me to be a parish priest.
None of these people are saints in the Hall of Fame, which is one of the reasons why the Church celebrates a feast for all the saints. Another reason for this feast is that every baptized Christian by definition is called to be a saint; that is, to live up to what we have been given in Holy Baptism. What is that? “Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.” This is the definition and calling of the saints.
Saint Paul refers to the members of his churches as the saints; for example, the saints in Corinth. Given how badly behaved the members of the Corinthian Church and other congregations were, it is striking that the same apostle who chastises them reminds them that they are baptized, defined, and called to be saints in Jesus Christ.
. New Yorkers can take heart from those Corinthians! Redeemed sinners: Take courage; rise to life with Christ! Last Sunday at coffee hour our Every Member Canvass brigade sang the children’s hymn for All Saints: “You can meet them in school or in lanes or at sea, in church or in trains or in shops or at tea, for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.” We are called to exhibit the triumphs of Christ in our own lives; that is, to embody the grace of God in situations, as Father Stafford might say, with people, places, things and events that are deceptively ordinary.
We say deceptively ordinary, because the daily circumstances we encounter are unique, unrepeatable. They are opportunities for grace that will never come again, little tests and adventures in God’s providence that pass over immediately into eternity. We are called to live the grace of God in times and places where no one else will ever live. In words sent to me by an old friend, “The challenge of sainthood is to go where love takes me.”¹ Our daily lives are golden opportunities for splendor in the ordinary. No one else in the entire cosmos can take our place, ever.
The cloud of witnesses surrounds us in these situations, so let us therefore run with patience and perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, says the apostle; be healed, and strive for peace with all, and for that holiness without which no one can see the Lord.² Let us become what we are in Christ. Rise up, ye saints of God!
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
____________________
¹From Royal W. Rhodes, Catholic Greeting Card for All Saints Day.
² Hebrews 12: 1-2, 12-14.
