XXXI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
ALL SAINTS DAY
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
This Sunday, November 1st, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. When we say all saints automatically the saint that we are most devoted to comes to mind. It is true that we celebrate these known saints, but above all we also celebrate all of the many saints that we do not know because they have not been canonized, which I have no doubt are many more than the few we know. This feast is an invitation to remember our brothers and sisters who have lived faithfully the teachings proclaimed in the Gospel. Hoping to live with Christ in eternal life they lived their vocation of: brothers, sisters, fathers or mothers, uncles, grandparents, religious brothers or sisters, bishops or even popes. In the multitude that appears in the book of Revelation, there they are, our friends and family who dared to live faithfully the good news proclaimed by Christ. There we find many unknown saints: babies, boys and girls, young and old, husbands and wives, martyrs. Who has not met saintly people in their lives? People who are good, peaceful, servants, and charitable. And so today we celebrate their feast, because even though they are not on an altar, they are enjoying the presence of God and are contemplating his holy face.
“After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:
‘Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.’” (Rev. 7:9-10) This is our hope, for all of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ. It is through him that we are saved, because salvation is not earned by our merits but rather is a gift from God that Christ earned for us by the price of his Blood. In Him, our family and friends deposited their faith and trust, so today we are sure that they are enjoying God. Mons. Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan in his book “Live the Virtues” says: “One cannot be a saint one day and another day not: a storm can wipe away appearances and reveal the interior reality of sin which cannot be seen otherwise.” (Live the Virtues, #44) That is why one day we celebrate all of the saints and the next day all of the faithfully departed, because not all of them are saints, only those that were “wearing white robes” of grace, forgiveness and the mercy of God.
Saint John in the second reading tells us: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 Jn 3:2) In this great truth of being Children of God is hidden the mystery of holiness because it makes a direct reference to the most important part of the Christian life which is being, not losing, the image of being children of God. Many of our family members, having a healthy fear of God, were vigilant about their being a son or daughter of God and did not permit sin to touch them, and if by some disgrace they fell into sin, they looked for reconciliation with God.
In the Gospel the beatitudes are proclaimed, in them are found an authentic effort to win glory, liberty and peace. They propose that poverty frees the heart, mercy brings human relationships goodness and forgiveness, being clean of heart to judge and be judged, to strive for justice, because God is just. They proclaim many blessed for choosing life. It is a possibility of holiness that we should live even now, here in our part of history, not for later once everything has finished and we die, no. Holiness starts today so that later we can live eternally with God.
All the Saints of God, pray for us!