All Saints
Called to BE SAINTS....
Readings for:Solemnity of All Saints, Year A
Reading 1 Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
Psalm Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
Reading 2 1 John 3:1-3
Gospel Matthew 5:1-12a
REFLECTIONS:… from Father Daniel
Theme of ALL SAINTS: CALLED TO BE SAINTS
Today’s Solemnity brings together the whole Church, both in heaven and on earth to celebrate the triumph of God’s grace, since all of us are called to share in the holiness of God himself and to live holy lives here on earth. Our ancestors in faith, who have already completed their journey and lived holy lives, now intercede for us so that, one day, we may all be united around the banquet that the Trinity prepares for all the people of the world.
What does it mean, “called to be a saint”? Isn’t it a bit silly, pretentious, ambitious or proud? NO! It has to do everything with yourselves and myself. Sanctity is your Christian calling, your Christian vocation. Simply because to be a saint, to be holy, is basically to be one with God. It means you live the two great commandments of the law and the Gospel. Love God more than anything else, love your brothers and sisters at least as much as you love yourself. Do that, and you are a saint. Without that much holiness you are only nominally a Christian, a Christian in name only.
So we ask, what does holiness, being a saint, demand of you? Or what will an artist do to create a masterpiece? He will starve, forgo sleep, endure mental torture, forgo normal pleasures, repeat the same thing over and over again a thousand …. Refuse to be satisfied with second best. Because he or she is fashioning something extraordinary, something destined to endure, a work of strength, tenderness, a work of loveliness, a monument of human creativity. Only then do you end up with a masterpiece as the marble statue of Our Lady called PIETA in St. Peter’s in Rome done by Michelangelo or the painting of the LAST Supper done by Leonardo Da Vinci.
And so with you and me. There is no way that you and I may live our Christianity part-time, with only half our hearts in it. I do not know what particular road God wants you to follow. Whatever and wherever you are you are called to live as Jesus lived. The call came to you at your baptism, your vocation is to preach and to live the Gospel wherever you are. Simply be what you are. Do not let suffering or misfortune discourage you in your Faith in Christ; believe in him, Saints live like Saints. You are called to greatness, then be great!
