Nov. 1: Feast of All Saints

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14:
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1-6
Reading II: 1 John 3:1-3
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12

Homily
Growing up, as I did, under the Ursuline Sisters at St. Vincent de Paul and the Blue Book of Saints, it almost seemed as if the saints were super-people, super-human. That’s pretty hard to emulate!

In our Catholic tradition, a tradition going back to the first century, the Saints of the Church are people who really lived the life of the Spirit, however, they were NOT super-human.

Thomas was a doubting wishy-washy.

Peter lied under oath. (“I swear, I do not know the man.”)

Mary Magdalen prostituted.

Jerome raged. (And stormed around when things didn’t go his way.)

Augustine lusted. (“Give me purity, Lord, but not yet.”)

Matthew cheated. (He was a tax collector.)

Paul dominated. (He couldn’t get along with Peter, the Apostles, or Barnabas.)

How did they do it?

They are “Saints,” Holy Ones, because they used their good gifts, their talents, so well that these overshadowed their faults. They became “whole” people, fully human.

One does not start off being a Saint. It is like growing up. We do it little at a time. And we can’t skip any of its stages. We can’t grow in one day from 13 to 16 and get our driver’s license. We can’t skip from 55 to 62 or 65 with a snap of the finger and get our social security. We must take it one day at a time. So with holiness. We overcome the faulty streaks in our personality, our very selves, by accentuating the positive, by stressing our gifts, our talents, in our relationship with our God and with one another.

Over the years as I’ve mingled among many people of various parishes I’ve met a lot of great “saints.” They are “whole” people. They’ve got it all together. These folks let their good nature, their good will, freely flow and it spills out all over the place. You have met these kinds of people.

And so on this Feast of All Saints, we thank God for all the goodness we have in our world:

Blessed and Holy are those who turned the time of trial into a moment of grace.

Holy are those who choose peace in a violent situation.

Blessed are those who live in simplicity amid overflowing stuff.

Thanks and praise to those who live gently in an often angry and competitive environment.

How wonderful are those who show mercy and kindness in an uncaring time.

Holy and Blessed are those who choose purity in a depraved age.

Thanks and praise to those who act in justice with the weak and the powerless, the downtrodden and homeless, the old and the young.

Holy are those who choose less in an abundant and consumer society.

O Gracious God and Father, we gather this day to thank and praise you and those who choose your way. These are the Holy Ones, the Saints of the ages. Fill us with your Spirit. Help us to choose the better way and be numbered among your Saints, among those who dine at the Feast in your Kingdom.

--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor