ALL OF US SAINTS

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This past week the church celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day).

It's important, I think, to consider the two feasts at the same time, rather than as totally separate from each other. Christ revealed to us the truth that we are all one in him, all brothers and sisters, children of the same Father. St., Paul teaches us that we are as closely united as parts of a single body.

I like to think of a network. All human beings are in this network; some of us are alive, while most of us are deceased. But all of us together form the network of God's children, members of the dynamic loving family of the Holy Trinity. One word for this unity is "the Communion of Saints."

All of us are called to be saints -- let's not forget that. All Saints' Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate people who did a heroic job of being saints, people who can serve as models for us and who can intercede for us in the presence of God. But we saints on earth are striving to let the Holy Spirit fill us and transform us just as it did each of the canonized saints we venerate.

In professing the Creed each Sunday we say "I believe in the Communion of Saints" -- the "network" of which we are all members, living and deceased. The word "communion" naturally evokes the idea of "community." One of the lectionary readings for All Souls' Day is a well-known passage from Matthew containing these lines:

Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Mt 25:34-40)

In this passage Jesus is telling us how we ought to treat our fellow community members. We can't
say, "Well, they're not from our country," or "They dislike us," or "Our economy might suffer if we help them."

Once again, saints, let us start by taking this passage personally, just as we did in last week's post, and ask ourselves what the Lord may be demanding of us as individual saints. If all of us were to respond to Jesus' challenge, the differences of opinion in our country would take on a whole different feeling. In speaking to or about others in the Communion of Saints we would naturally speak with respect, kindness, humility, generosity and, well, love.

Let's ask the saints who have gone before us to intercede for us with the Father that we may overcome together the problems that divide us in our part of the network.