Readings:
• Psa 24:1BC-2, 3-4AB, 5-6
• Mt 5:1-12a
Today is the All Saints Day. November 1 every year the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints.
Who are the Saints?
The Saints are the holy ones! Those who did the perfect will of God on earth. They died in God's friendship and love. They now reign with God in his Kingdom in union with Christ and Mary, the Holy Mother of the Church.
Why does the Church celebrate the Saints?
Because all the members of the Church are in close and constant communion with each other. The Saints in heaven were once our brothers and sisters here on earth. They were able to overcome the world. They are now triumphant! We too are called pilgrim saints. We are still fighting our way through, the wayfarers. We all profess the same one faith, one Church, one God with the saints. It was the same Baptism of Christ, the same Sacraments they received, which made them holy, we also receive. We celebrate them because their lives were shining examples for us. And we hope to be with them at the end of our earthly struggle. Being perfectly united with Christ in heaven, they are in position to help us with their intercessions. One of the holy saints, and Doctor of the Church, St. Theresa of Lisieux, said, "When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.”
All the liturgical readings of today provide great insights of what it means to be saint. However, many are understandably a bit puzzled when they hear the passage from the Book of Revelation:
"And I saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the Seal of the living God. And he cried out, in a great voice, to the four Angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, saying: “Do no harm to the earth, nor to the sea, nor to the trees, until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed."
So, are the number of Saints complete, as some sects teach? Far from it! "In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places. If there were not, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return again, and then I will take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be" (John 14:2-4). The words of Jesus Christ.
The Saints are the marked ones. They are sealed with the holiness of God, with the Blood of Christ Jesus. Today’s first reading is a perfect example. It is read on the Solemnity of All Saints because it describes the reason we were created; to "Be holy as I AM holy!" (1 Peter 1:16). Using a multitude of references to the Old Testament, John the Revelator shows what it means to be a saint, a “holy one.”
Let us highlight three of the characteristics shared by all saints.
1. All the saints are sealed by God. Before the judgment of God is sent upon the wickedness of man, the servants of God are to be sealed, or marked. This will set them apart. In Ezekiel 9:3-4, we read that the Lord commanded a mysterious “man clothed in linen” to go through Jerusalem and “put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it". Those who loved God and who hated sin were saved. All others perished! The mark described by Ezekiel would protect the righteous Israelites from four rapidly approaching judgments. In Exodus 12:13, we saw how God instructed Moses and the Israelites to mark their doorposts with the blood of the lamb, so that when the angel of death will sweep over Egypt, he will Passover them! Have you received your own seal?
Jesus was set apart by the Father with a seal (John 6:27). Those who are baptized into Christ are also marked, with the seal of the Holy Spirit. The nature of that seal is both familiar and judicial. Those marked by God belong to him; forming a family. They are now of God's household—the Church. They are under God's authority and protection from eternal damnation (see Catechism, pars. 1295-6).
2. The second characteristic of saints builds on the first. The saints are servants and sons of God. A man is a servant to his Master. We are called to be sons and daughters of God by grace, because of the sacrificial death of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. What an amazing God's love! As sons and daughters, the saints are joined in the communion of the Church, the divine house of God (1 Tim 3:15; Heb 3:5-6).
An essential part of the service rendered by the saints is prayer, worship, and praise. “We know that God does not listen to sinners,” Jesus told his disciples. "But if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him” (John 9:21). But to the wicked God says: "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your mouth?" (Psalms 50:16). Is your life marked with praise, thanksgiving and worship?
3. The saints on earth and in heaven worship and praise God because they are saved from sin and death. Baptized into Christ, they rise with him to eternal life. This can be seen in the description of the Church triumphant, which is a great multitude of “every nation, race, people, and tongue” (Rev.7:4), wearing white robes and carrying palm branches! “White robes" here refer to baptism. And "palm branches" represent the triumph of the Cross. Since they have conquered the world in Christ, the robes may also signify the love which is given through the Holy Spirit.
Having survived “the time of great distress,” saints enter into eternal joy. The final chapter of the Bible describes that joy. “There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads” (Rev 22:3-4). That is what it means to be saint. That is the reason we were created. That is the reason we celebrate.
Happy Celebration. All Angels and Saints, Pray for Us!
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