Everybody
has a favorite saint, huh? Who’s
yours? Your namesake perhaps? Or maybe another saint who’s special to you?
I
have a couple favorite saints. My namesake, for one, St. Edward, King of
England. I was touring Westminster Abbey
in London something like 20 years ago and there, behind the altar, is St.
Edward’s chair, a dumpy old wooden chair but famous because every king and
queen of England sits in it when they’re crowned and vested. I was given his saint’s name, so I have to
show favoritism, even if he lived nearly 1000 years ago!
Another
favorite of mine is St. Joseph…patron of fathers and husbands, workers,
protectors, providers.
Oh
and St. Peter, too….mainly because he was so human – bold but so weak, betrayed
the Lord, then led our Church, gave his life for the Lord as did so many of the
saints we celebrate today.
The
Solemnity of All Saints - while the best known saints have their own feast
days, we gather this evening to celebrate All Saints. All those who’ve gone before us, who’ve lived
exemplary lives, lives of beatitude, lives of heroic virtue, lives of bearing
their crosses and surviving great distress and are now gathered around the
throne of God as we just heard in our first reading.
But
why do we celebrate them? For a few
reasons actually –
Because
of their example. These days we emulate
sports figures, and politicians, and entertainers…Kardashians, anyone? The ones we should be emulating are the
saints, who show us in so many diverse ways the way to live, the way to genuine
self-giving love, the way to holiness.
We
celebrate them because of their help, their support, their intercession – we
have this cloud of witnesses, like this giant cheering section up there,
rooting us on on our own faith journey, giving us aid and comfort and praying
for us before the throne of God.
And,
because to reverence the saints, we give praise to God. None of the saints, you see, did it on their
own. They’re with God in heaven for one
reason – Our Blessed Lord died and rose again to save them. To be sure, each had to cooperate, each had
decisions to make, each had to respond to God’s call with a heroic “yes!” But by reverencing the saints, we are
praising Jesus our Savior.
And
we celebrate them this day because you and I are called to join them. To become saints ourselves.
Oh
that’s silly, Deacon Ed, you might say.
If you knew me, you’d know I’m no saint.
That’s certainly true about me!
But
make no mistake, you and I are called to Sainthood, whether or not we’re ever
canonized, whether or not we ever have a feast day.
It’s
comforting, I think, that of all the saints we celebrate today, every one was a
sinner save Mary, the Blessed Mother of Our Lord, who was of course born
without stain of sin. But other than
her, all these holy men and women were, like you and me, sinners.
Some
were great sinners – St. Paul presiding over the stoning of St. Steven comes to
mind. Or the sexual sins of St.
Augustine - “Lord make me chaste, but not yet,” prayed St. Augustine. But St.
Monica kept praying for her son and praying for him and lo, he became one of
our greatest saints.
Yes,
even though each was a sinner, each persisted in the faith, each let the power
of grace work in their lives, and each grew in holiness. And each went to their graves having lived
exemplary lives.
Sisters
and brothers, you and I are called to join them. Father Larry Richards, a well-known Catholic
speaker from Erie, spoke a few weeks back at the diocesan men’s
conference. I bought three of his book
“Be a Man” – one for each of my two sons in law and one son-in-law to be, God
willing. It was lunchtime and I waited
until Father Larry was done praying before the tabernacle to ask him to sign each
book.
“Be
a Saint” he wrote in each one. And then
he looked at me and said “…or go to hell!”
“Be a saint or go to hell!” That
bluntness was a shock to me! But the
choice before us is really that stark.
If
we pursue lives of selfishness and sin, keeping Jesus far away, or confined to
an hour each week, we’ll go to the warm place.
But
if we pursue with all our effort the path of holiness, giving ourselves
completely to Him and letting His grace work in our lives…if we choose to obey
Him in all the little decisions we face…if we strive to live lives of
self-giving love, of beatitude - you and I will join those holy men and women
who’ve gone before us, and we, too, will live eternally in the peace and
unimaginable joy of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Oh, and I’d be
completely remiss if I didn’t mention the greatest of the saints – Our Blessed
Mother – whose help is most valuable, and who will absolutely lead us to her
Son if only we ask her and trust her.
Let us ask her right now for her intercession – “Hail Mary, full of
grace…”
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