Holy Men and Women of Every Time and Place

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 11/4/04)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Mass celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints at St. Thomas More Cathedra in Arlington on Monday, Nov. 1, 2004.

As you and I journey through life, we so often experience the need to be encouraged. This is certainly true in our human lives, because we do encounter difficult, unexpected and not easily resolved situations. We quickly become discouraged. This is also true in our faith-lives, because there too we do experience struggles, temptations and, yes, sinfulness. Again, we quickly become discouraged.

The Lord knows our need to be encouraged. Today’s Solemnity of All Saints is a tangible expression of His desire to encourage us. He points to all the saints, that countless number of men and women who are now with Him in the eternal life of heaven and reminds us: "Where they now are, you also one day will be, if you never give up trying to be faithful to My love and to the graces I send you because I love you." The Lord reminds us in today’s second reading that He truly loves us. "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are."

Yes, today’s Solemnity of All Saints reminds us of our destiny: God desires that we be with Him forever in the eternal life of heaven. "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." God calls us to be numbered one day among the saints, " … the ones who have survived the time of great distress [and] washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb." Today’s Solemnity of All Saints encourages us as we recall the great destiny to which we are called!

Today’s Solemnity of All Saints confirms that many have already attained their destiny and are with God forever. These are the ones we call "saints," "holy men and women of every time and place." Some of these are either canonized or beatified by the Church; so many others have not been so proclaimed, yet they too are with God, sharing eternal life. Among these are our relatives and friends.

All of these saints are longing for our arrival; in fact, they are praying that we will remain open to God’s saving grace, that we will persevere in our efforts to obey His Word and to do His Will, as they did in their lifetime. Do we not find much encouragement in the fact that these men and women, ordinary and human like us, are now with God? Do we not find much encouragement in their unceasing prayer for us? Indeed we do, as we echo today’s Opening Prayer: "Lord, may their prayer bring us your forgiveness and love."

Today’s Solemnity of All Saints also points out that those who are now saints were like us as they traveled through life: weak, limited, prone to sin and actually sinners. How then did they become saints? They knew their absolute need for God, so they more and more lived with the spirit of the beatitudes which Jesus proclaimed in today’s Gospel. They were open and receptive to the Lord’s saving grace. They prayed, did penance and performed acts of charity. Certainly, they loved Jesus really present in the Eucharist. They received Him in Holy Communion with joy and trust; they prayed before Him in the Blessed Sacrament with fervor and love. The Year of the Eucharist began on Oct. 17. May this priceless and providential opportunity help us to become more closely united with our Eucharistic Lord and in that way truly grow in holiness, which is the way to become a saint. Yes, realizing that the saints were like us but allowed God to transform them truly encourages us.

Today’s Solemnity of All Saints encourages us because we are being reminded again that reaching our destiny — to be with God forever — is not impossible but in fact attainable. No, we cannot become saints on our own, but we are not being asked to do that. We are being asked to allow the Lord to make us holy, so that we can rise above our human weakness and be redeemed from our sins through Christ’s Dying and Rising. He wants us to join the company of all the saints, and if we let Him, He will do it. There is our encouragement — the Lord Who loves us and Who alone can save us! Amen!

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