November 1 Sunday Reflection

---From Fr Carlo Tei

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of all Saints.

• And we celebrate it to commemorate not only those saints whose names are written in the Church’s calendar, but also all those humble men and women who followed Christ faithfully during their life time and whose names are written in heaven.

• Moreover, while other feast days celebrate only others, today in the celebration we include also ourselves. St Paul used to call Christians like us “the saints”, so we are not presumptuous in saying that we, too, are saints, meaning that we are in the process of sanctity.

Today’s feast, therefore, invites us to realize that we have been called to be saints, that is a call to live in holiness, and that it is fitting to celebrate our communion with all the saints.

First of all, we should never forget that we are all called to be saints. There is no exception. Once we grant that God became man to redeem us, it is unthinkable that he would do the job halfway. Jesus himself said: “You must become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. One little catechism asked the question: “Can we be like God”? It answered: “Yes”, and quoted the very Scripture passage we have in today’s Second Reading: “We shall be like him for we shall see his as he is”. In view of these clear statements in God’s word, it is not surprising that Vatican II taught that every single one of us is called to holiness.

What is holiness?

It is what God is. Only God is holy. We can become holy only by sharing God’s holiness.

Through baptism and confirmation we were made a new creation, given a share in the divine nature, made children and friends of God, given the Holy Spirit and made members of the Church of Christ. In this way, we were given the call and the power to be saints.

What is a saint?

• In the First Reading John describes the saints as those who survived the great time of trial and washed their robes white with the Lamb’s blood.

• In the Second Reading, he describes the saints as the little children of God who grew up and have now become full-fledged sons and daughters of God.

• In the Gospel, Jesus describes the saints by the way they live. In the beatitudes Jesus spells out the way to holiness.

How many beatitudes did we identify with? There is nothing in them we cannot do or be. If we imitate Jesus, we will be able to practise them all, for he is the beatitudes in the flesh. Is there anyone of us who doesn’t want to be like Jesus? That’s what the Father wants of any of us.

What best defines our call to holiness is that it is a call to be great lovers. Pope Paul VI said that what most identifies the uniqueness of a human being is his “capacity to love, to love to the end, to give himself with that love that it is stronger than death and extends to eternity”. He pointed out to the martyrs as the sublime expressions of this quality. Theirs was the noblest of all loves, not only in the way they gave, but in Him to whom they gave it, the God who died for them.

Our way to holiness shares more with the martyrs than we realize. The word martyr means witness. To live a life of holiness is to give that witness to God in a kind of living martyrdom. In some ways it is even harder. We feel al times that to be faithful to God we have to shed the very blood of our souls, and that it would be easier to lie down and die. Only our deep love for Christ sustains us on this journey to holiness.

We, the family of God the Father, are in three stages of progress. We are the Church militant on earth, the Church suffering in purgatory and the Church triumphant in heaven. We are all for one, and one for all.

• The saints in heaven strengthen our faith by their lives; intercede for us obtaining for us the divine graces we need to live holy lives.

• The saints in purgatory need our prayers and good works to hasten the day of their final purification and entrance into heaven. We will remember them especially tomorrow on All Souls Day. They in return will be interceding for us.

• We on earth are still fighting the battles of love and faithfulness. We should never lose sight of the nobility of our struggle. We are fighting for something, for which God created us and Jesus, his Son, gave his life.

In this Eucharistic Celebration let us renew our determination to follow Christ, enlightened by His Spirit, strengthened by the Sacrament of His Body and Blood and through the intercessions of His Mother and all the saints.

Meditation- The Solemnity of All Saints

---from John Paul II "Prayers and Devotions"

Let us all rejoice in the Lord on this Solemnity of All the Saints! Ours is a sheer, limpid joy, a strengthening one, like that found in a big family, when it is teh kind having its roots there, drawing the new blood of its own life and its own spiritual identity form there.

With our spirit today we are immersed in this numberless host of saints, of the saved. They offer us courage and sing together a chorus of glory to Him whom the psalmists call teh God of my gladness and job (Ps 43:4). At the center of this communication is God himself. He not only calls us to holiness but he gives it to us in Christ's blood as well and so overcomes our sins. We should always sing a hymn of thanksgiving to the Lord. as Mary did, so to give joyous proclamation to he bounty of the Father "for having made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light" (Col 1:12). So the Feast of All Saints call upon us never to fall back only on ourselves, but to look to the Lord so as to be radiant (cf. Ps 34:6). Not to presume oon our own strength but to trust as sons in him who has loved us, never to grow weary of doing good.

All the Saints have ever been, and are, poor in spirit, meek, afflicted, hungry and thirsty for justice, merciful, pure of heart, peacmakers, percecuted because of the Gospel. They have been these things in varying degrees. We have to be like them. "God's will" is our sanctification (1 Thes 4:3).