All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day

Fr. Ben Riley

t’s the middle of the night, and five year old Father Ben wakes up from a nightmare. I’m cold, lying in my twin bed, and I start to cry out.
“Mom.”
No response.
So I call out louder.
“Mom!”
Finally, my mom walks through the door, and relief floods over me.
“What’s wrong, honey?”
“I had a nightmare.”
She sits on the bed, gives me a hug, and asks, “What was it about?”
And, still shaking, I say, “I dreamt you were dead.”
She smiles and tells me she is fine and isn’t going to die for a very long time.
But five year old Father Ben is not satisfied.
“But you will die someday.”
And my mom says, “Yes. That’s true. But I will be a saint, and one day, you will be a saint with me.”
My mom was teaching me something that night about the purpose of our lives. We are made for heaven. We are made to become saints.
And today, as All Saints falls on a Sunday, we have an opportunity to think about what that means.
Sometimes we hear the word “saint” and immediately picture someone like a superhero. Someone who worked miracles, founded a religious order, or died heroically as a martyr.

And then we look at ourselves and think, “Well, that’s probably not going to be me.”
But everyone in heaven is a saint. Becoming a saint is the ordinary goal of the Christian life. Whatever else we hope to accomplish, this is the goal that gives everything else its direction.
So what is a saint? And how do we become one?
Our first reading gives us a glimpse. Saint John sees “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.”
Imagine that crowd. People from every corner of the world. People separated by thousands of years, with different languages, personalities,
and experiences. And now they stand together before the throne of God and before the Lamb.
What are they doing? Have you ever thought about that? What are actually going to be doing in heaven?
Well, John tells us.
The angels fall down before God, giving him blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might.

All the saints cry out, “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the
throne, and from the Lamb.”
They are worshiping.
John shows us a life completely centered on God.
That is what worship means: recognizing God as our highest good and ordering our lives around him.
And that raises the question: What is actually at the center of my life?
We all organize our lives around something. Something determines our priorities, directs our choices, and receives our sacrifices.

We all worship. Even atheists worship.
It might be family. Money, power, or pleasure. It might be comfort, success, control, or the approval of others.
Even something good can take the place of God in our lives.
Sitting here in church, we may think. “Well, I’m here, aren’t I? I put God first.”
But what do our choices reveal? What do we consistently make time for?
What gets pushed aside? When faithfulness to God becomes inconvenient, what wins out?
I constantly have to ask myself those questions. I try to put God first, but I often get distracted and lose sight of that desire. And that is why
Confession is such a beautiful gift. Being a saint isn’t a moment in time, it is a lifelong journey of reconciliation and relationship with God.
A saint is someone who, through God’s grace, learns to call out for help when they get a little lost on the journey.
And that helps us understand why the Mass is so important.
Here, we join the worship of heaven. We even say it: with the angels and saints, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
The multitude John describes is worshiping here with us, in this Mass, and in every Mass, in every country around the world. The Lord who is present before the saints in heaven, is present before us on this altar.
We are already being drawn into the life we hope to share for all eternity.
But that worship, must also shape what happens when we leave this church.
And that is where the Gospel comes in.
The Beatitudes show us what a life centered on God looks like.

“Blessed are the merciful.”
If I worship the God who has forgiven me, his mercy should shape how I forgive others. I become more willing to forgive, more patient with
weakness, more attentive to suffering.
“Blessed are the clean of heart.”
A clean heart is a heart being freed from sin and divided loyalties. I begin to desire what God desires. I allow him into the wounded parts of my life l would rather keep hidden.
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
What am I hungry for? What do I most deeply desire?
We know what it feels like to want something so badly that we keep thinking about it. Jesus invites us to desire goodness, holiness, friendship
with Him, and the joy that friendship gives.
The other Beatitudes help us recognize what can get in the way.
The poor in spirit recognize their dependence on God. The meek surrender the need to dominate. Those who mourn bring their sorrow to God and trust his promise of comfort. The peacemakers work to heal divisions.
And those persecuted for righteousness remain faithful, even when it costs them the approval of others.
These are the qualities of Saints.
And, look again at that great multitude which no one could count. John describes people from every race, nation, people, and tongue. There is
tremendous variety. Holiness can take shape in any vocation, any career, and any age. A mother raising children, a husband caring for his sick wife, a young person resisting pressure, or someone quietly beginning again after years away from God.
God calls each of us to holiness within the unique life he has entrusted to us.

And we do not accomplish this by our own strength. John tells us that the saints “have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
Their salvation comes from Christ, the sacrifice he gave us on the cross.
We need his mercy, his forgiveness, and his grace. And we need to keep saying yes. To be All in.
When I woke up from my nightmare, my mom gave a frightened little boy a reason to hope.
Today, we see that hope fulfilled in the multitude standing before God.
By his grace, one day, I hope to stand there with you. Saints among the Saints of God.