You are saintly too…
(09-25-2009)
The idea of a future reward resonates through all of our readings. The book of Revelation describes a view of the end times when all the saints will be in the fullness of the beatific vision, seeing God and our Savior Jesus Christ. In our Responsorial we cry out with the need for that future as a people that longs to see the face of God. In the first letter of John we hear of the gift given to us in Christ Jesus, the gift of being children of God, yet posing the question as to our future, what we will be later on, and in our Gospel of the beatitudes we hear of the many blessings that will fall upon those who live for and in Christ. The natural question, especially for we Americans in our instant gratification way of living, is WHAT ABOUT THE NOW?
This solemnity of the Feast of All Saints helps to answer the question about the now rewards. This special feast unites us with the saints that we all commonly recognize our heroic figures that are in our canon and the hagiographies written about them and many of those to whom we pray. The feast also calls to mind the millions of unknown saints, martyrs, and those not martyred who lived a life that was Christ like — too numerous to list in any common of saints, saints known to God alone -- that’s why we call it the Feast of All saints. The communion of saints is the Mystical Body of Christ are all those who have gone before us and in their lives on earth united themselves to Christ through their acts of prayer, penance and works of mercy.
And it is more than likely that we have known a few. Perhaps it is a mother or father a family member or friend whose life was filled with the grace to do God’s will and to live in and through Christ. Someone who took their personal suffering as an opportunity for prayer and offered it to our Lord to help others; or someone who continued to sacrifice for the benefit of others—rather than for her/himself. Perhaps we met just such a person in a hospital or convalescent home. You know the kind of person I mean. And we privately say to ourselves or to God, that person is a saint and will go straight up to heaven.
It is just such people that we celebrate this Sunday. People, who through Christ and in him now as a part of his mystical body, intercede with God on our behalf, offering the merit they acquired on earth through Christ Jesus and through the suffering they endured and offered to him.
For these reasons the church teaches that there is an ever present link of charity between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are atoning for their sins in purgatory and with their prayers for us who are still pilgrims on earth. In God’s mercy and love through Jesus Christ, there is an abundant exchange of all which is merited by the communion of saints as atonement for all the sins of the whole Mystical Body-- which gives us great comfort in knowing we are never alone in our suffering.
As members of God’s family, we cannot merely rest on the laurels of the Communion of Saints. We too are called to become like them. Here and in the now. We are called to be present to one another, to offer assistance for the good of each other and to be resolute in our faith in Christ; and this is going to sound strange to some of you, to do so especially in our suffering. For when we link our suffering to Christ we link ourselves more fully to his mystical body and to the communion of saints, we surrender what we endure and in that surrender experience a poverty of spirit, and it is ironic that through such a surrender of suffering we can experience even greater blessings and therefore truly experience a beatitude.
The link of suffering to Christ can bring relief and peace—offering it up to him for the good of others helps us be more saint-like. And I know many of you who are.
The Beatitudes are the Gospel words of courage and hope—the attitudes we are to strive to live.
As we reflect on this saintly day and the people who give us hope in their witness let us thank God for them and for the gift of our Communion in the Community of Saints. Blessings and thanks be to God for the many saintly people among us, Fr. Gordon
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