Homily for All Saints Day: Made for Sainthood

Homily for All Saints 2017 

Revelation 7:2-4,9-14, 1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12a

Introduction 

As we know, New Orleans is a very Catholic area.  But here you will find some unique even strange customs and practices, including those about the saints. 

First, only in New Orleans do we call our Football team, The Saints.  A few years ago I heard about a Catholic elementary school in the area that celebrates "All Saints Day" by having the students pick and dress up like a saint.  Parents and parishioners come to the school throughout the day to see the kids dressed up as saints and to learn about the saints.  But a few years ago some kids misunderstood the instructions of the teacher, and so they showed up dressed as Drew Brees, Mark Ingram and other New Orleans Saints players.  Only in New Orleans can these children could be forgiven for making that mistake. 

But a second unique custom of New Orleans is what we do at the cemetery on “All Saints Day.”  Everywhere else in the Catholic world, the day for focusing on the dead is not All Saints Day, but the next day, November 2nd, "All Souls Day."  I understand that the New Orleans custom of gathering in cemeteries on All Saints Day goes back to the French period, when this day was a civic holiday.  Families, who had a great devotion for their departed relatives, would use this holiday, since they did not have to go work to attend to their graves.  These simple practical gatherings eventually morphed into the family coming together to pay their respects, meet each other and pray for the dead.  And so, only in New Orleans, are the dead in the cemeteries prayed for on "All Saints" Day, rather than "All Souls" Day as indicated in the Universal Calendar. 

The third custom to throw into the mix is done throughout the USA and not just New Orleans.  This is Halloween, celebrated on the eve of "All Saints" Day, "All Hallows eve" to use an old English word for holy.  This was originally a Christian festival in Europe, meant to prepare people for "All Saints Day."  But today there are three broad attitudes towards Halloween. 

• Some, often very pious Christians, think of Halloween as a heathen festival in which Christians should have no part. So they will instead celebrate "Saints' parties” and similar festivals on October 31. 
• Others see Halloween as a purely secular festival.  And so they dress up as the evil one simply for the sake of fun or to actually dabble in the occult.  Others still dress up in sexy outfits for reasons I cannot understand. 
• The third option tries to recover the Christian origins of Halloween, as a festival to acknowledge the existence of the Devil, mock him and show him the victory of Christ.  And in this way, we prepare for All Saints Day. 

And so, as all three festivals of All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day struggling to get our attention, how can we celebrate All Saints Day? 

Scripture and Theology 

Why do have this feast of All Saints at all? After all, aren't we celebrating saints throughout the year?  Why has the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, even some Protestant Communities celebrated this feast of “All Saints” going back all the way to the fourth century?  Why is “All Saints Day" a holy day of obligation? 

We can turn for an answer to the Apostles Creed, a passage that summarizes our most basic beliefs as Christians.  Towards the end we say: “I believe . . . in the communion of saints.”  With those words we express our belief not only in saints, but also the fact that they share their good fortune with us, in communion. 

Our first reading from the Book of Revelation described “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.”  We heard that: “They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”  These are the saints.  They are friends of God, companions of God, who live with God, praising him day and night.  Unlike the spirits of Halloween who have lost their way, the saints have made it to heaven, and are enjoying the life and light of God. 

And then Saint John in today's second reading tells us: "Beloved, we are God’s children now," in other words, we are already friends of God.  But then he goes on to add: "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."  In other words we are on the journey, which will be complete only when we get to heaven. Mother Teresa, Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, and many countless others have done exactly that – they are now like God and they see God as he is. 

Christian Life 

We too are destined to become saints.  We might not be canonized saints like St. Maria Goretti, but we hope to be like her and the many good people who have gone before us to the Lord.  Like them, we will each not have a particular saint’s day, but will be numbered among the great multitude standing before the throne of God.  Celebrating All Saints Day helps us prepare to be saints in three ways: 

First, All the saints pray for us, they intercede for us before God the Father, just as we intercede for each other and pray for each other here on earth.  Their prayers, however, carry more weight, because they are now with God.  Just like in ordinary life, it is really helpful to have communion with friends in high places, we are in communion with the saints, who use their proximity and influence with God, to appeal for us, their brothers and sisters, who are still on this journey. 

Secondly, the saints give us a good example.  Again as human beings we know the usefulness of role models.  In the Christian life, collectively the saints provide that role model.  If we want to see how to live out the beatitudes we heard about in the gospel, to be blessed by being poor in spirit, meek, merciful, we can look to Mother Teresa, for example.  If we are looking to be blessed like the peacemakers, we have only to look at Pope John Paul II.  For as the book of Revelation says, the saints are "the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."  They have followed the Lord’s way faithfully until the end and so can we. 

Thirdly, the saints give us hope, by showing us the way to God.  Growing up as a small boy, I would look at my teachers and priests, not merely as good examples, but also as people I wanted to be like, one day.  The fact that all these men and women, great and small, rich and poor, black and white, are now with God, should remind us of our calling, our calling to be saints like them. 

Conclusion 

My former bishop tells the story when a young priest he had just completed graduate studies at a prominent university in New York and was returning home to Uganda. After congratulating him on his success, an elderly nun told him: 

“Father, although you now have acquired a prestigious academic title, there is still one more title that you need to get.” 

“Which one,” the young priest asked?  “Monsignor?” 

“No,” the nun replied. 

“Bishop, Archbishop?” 

“No.” 

“Well, it must be Pope,” the anxious young priest said. 

“No, Father” said the nun.  “The title that you still need to add behind your name is “Saint, Saint Denis.” 

The title that you and I need to get is "Saint", one who is with God, one who is like God. 

And so, while Halloween reminds us of the anti-saints, those who fail to make it to heaven, and while All Souls day reminds us of those who are still on their journey to heaven, for whom we must pray, All Saints Day should remind us of those who have completed the journey, the ones who we hope to be one day.