Sunday, November 2, 2008

All Soul's Day, 2008

ALL SOUL'S DAY AND ALL SAINT'S DAY ARE LINKED TOGETHER IN THE CHURCH CALENDAR. WE DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE SAINTS AND THE SOULS; THE SAINTS ARE THOSE ALREADY IN HEAVEN, AND THE SOULS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE DIED AND ARE AWAITING HEAVEN IN PURGATORY.
BUT REALLY, THERE ARE ONLY THREE STATES THAT A SOUL CAN BE IN; TO BE SAVED, TO BE DAMNED, AND TO BE AWAITING JUDGEMENT. YOU AND I ARE IN THE LAST CATEGORY.
THE SO-CALLED POOR SOULS WHOM WE CELEBRATE TODAY ARE HAPPIER THAN THE HAPPIEST PERSON ON EARTH. WOULDN'T YOU BE HAPPY IF YOU KNEW THAT YOU WERE DESTINED FOR HEAVEN, THAT NOTHING COULD HAPPEN THAT WOULD CHANGE THAT? YOU AND I COULD ENDURE ANYTHING IF WE KNEW WE WERE SAVED.
THE WORD, “SAINT” COMES FROM THE LATIN WORD THAT MEANS HOLY. HOLY MEANS TO BE CONSECRATED, TO BE SET ASIDE FOR GOD. THE SOULS IN PURGATORY, JUST AS THOSE IN HEAVEN, ARE “SAINTS” IN THIS SENSE. THERE IS ANOTHER WORD THAT JESUS USES WHICH HAS A VERY SIMILAR MEANING; IN ENGLISH THAT WORD IS “BLESSED”. AND THE ENGLISH WORD “BLESSED” IS RELATED TO THE WORD “BLOODSHED”, WHICH ONCE MEANT A SACRIFICE WHICH HAD BEEN CONSECRATED BY BLOOD. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THERE IS A REMARKABLE EMPHASIS ON BLOOD IN THE SACRIFICES OF THE PEOPLE. A SAINT IS HOLY BECAUSE OF BLOODSHED, REAL, HONEST TO GOODNESS BLOODSHED, AND NOT JUST ANY BLOOD. IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, WE HEAR THAT THE SAINTS ARE THOSE WHOSE ROBES HAVE BEEN WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, AND MADE WHITE.
SO WE CAN'T MAKE OURSELVES INTO SAINTS. THAT CAN ONLY BE DONE BY GOD THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS.
BUT SURELY THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN THAT! AND THERE IS. WHEN YOU STUDY THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS, THEY ALL HAVE A FEW THINGS IN COMMON. ONE IS THAT THEY THIRST FOR GOD. SOME DID GREAT WORKS, SOME DIED AS MARTYRS; SOME SPENT THEIR LIVES IN MONASTERIES; AND SOME, EVEN SOME OF THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN CANONIZED, WERE KINGS AND LAWYERS AND FATHERS AND MOTHERS, WIVES AND HUSBANDS; EVEN SOME CHILDREN HAVE BEEN CANONIZED. AND THEY ALL WANTED GOD WITH ALL THEIR HEARTS, THEY WANTED TO KNOW HIM AND TO SERVE HIM. YOU AND I HAVE CONTROL OVER OUR OWN DESIRES; WE CAN DEEPEN OUR THIRST FOR GOD, WE CAN LOVE HIM, KNOW HIM, AND SERVE HIM MORE THAN WE DO NOW.
ANOTHER THING ALL THE SAINTS HAD IN COMMON WAS THE ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE. IN THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH, WE SEE THAT IN THE MARTYRS, WHO TRUSTED IN GOD TO THE POINT OF DEATH; LATER WHEN THE ROMAN EMPIRE BECAME CHRISTIAN, WE SEE MEN AND WOMEN GOING OUT INTO THE DESERT, WITH NOTHING BUT THE CLOTHES ON THEIR BACKS; WE SEE PEOPLE LIKE ST. BENEDICT LEAVING HIS LAW PRACTICE TO FOUND A MONESTERY, OR ST. FRANCIS LEAVING HIS WEALTHY FAMILY, WITH NOTHING, NOT EVEN CLOTHING. WHY? BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO PUT THEMSELVES IN GOD'S HANDS. AND WE SEE OTHERS LIKE KING HENRY OF BAVARIA WHO WANTED TO LEAVE HIS THRONE AND BE A MONK, BUT WAS PERSUADED BY HIS SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR THAT HIS ROLE WAS TO BE KING, AND SO HE SAID, “THY WILL BE DONE,” AND TRIED TO BE THE BEST KING HE COULD BE; OR MARGARET OF SCOTLAND, WHO LONGED TO ENTER THE CONVENT, BUT IN ABANDONING HERSELF TO GOD'S WILL, BECAME A WIFE AND A MOTHER OF EIGHT – THREE OF WHOM BECAME CANONIZED SAINTS. STUBBORN SAINTS, LAUGHING SAINTS, ODD SAINTS, BRILLIANT SAINTS, FOOLISH SAINTS – ALL HAD IN COMMON LETTING GOD DIRECT THEIR LIVES; AND SOME, EVEN SOME OF THE CANONIZED ONES, NEVER QUITE LET GO OF EVERYTHING. EVEN THE GREAT ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, ONE OF MY FAVORITE SAINTS, ON HIS WAY FROM ROME BACK TO HIS MONASTERY PERSUADED HIS COMPANIONS TO GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO A LITTLE VILLAGE KNOWN FOR A SPECIAL KIND OF FISH. THOMAS WAS FOND OF FOOD, AND WANTED TO TRY THE FISH, AND UNFORTUNATELY, GOT A BAD ONE AND DIED OF FOOD POISONING. AND ST. JEROME TO HIS DYING DAY WAS EASILY ANNOYED BY PEOPLE, AND ALWAYS HAD TROUBLE WITH HIS TEMPER. BUT ALL SAINTS TRIED, ALL SAINTS HAD AS THEIR GOAL LETTING GOD RUN THEIR LIVES. AND WE CAN DO THAT, WE CAN AT LEAST START IN THAT DIRECTION.
AND FINALLY ALL SAINTS LEARNED TO SEE SOMETHING OF JESUS IN OTHER PEOPLE. ST. FRANCIS XAVIER TRAVELED ALL OVER THE WORLD BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT JESUS WANTED ALL PEOPLE TO BE SAVED, BUT SOMEONE HAD TO TELL THEM THE GOOD NEWS, SOMEONE HAD TO BAPTIZE THEM. SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, ONE OF THE GREATEST POPES, WROTE THAT HE HAD GIVEN UP WHAT HE REALLY WANTED, WHICH WAS TO RETIRE TO HIS MONASTERY TO PRAY AND MEDITATE AND GROW CLOSER TO GOD, SO THAT HE COULD TAKE THE ROLE TO WHICH GOD HAD CALLED HIM – TO BE SHEPHERD TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. AND WE HAVE SO MANY EXAMPLES OF SAINTS AND BLESSEDS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR OWN COUNTRY WHO BUILT HOSPITALS AND SCHOOLS, WHO WORKED WITH SLAVES, WHO CARED FOR LEPERS LIKE ST. DAMIEN OR FOR PATIENTS DYING OF CANCER LIKE SISTER ROSE HAWTHORNE. AND EVEN AMONG THOSE WHO LIVED CLOISTERED LIVES, WE SEE THIS. ST. THERESE OF LISEAUX SPENT HER LIFE PRAYING FOR MISSIONARIES AND THE PEOPLE TO WHOM THEY WERE SENT.
WE CANNOT MAKE OURSELVES INTO SAINTS; THAT IS SOMETHING ONLY GOD CAN DO. BUT WE CAN DO WHAT ALL THE SAINTS DID. WE CAN DEEPEN OUR DESIRE FOR GOD; WE CAN LET GOD TAKE CONTROL OF OUR LIVES; AND WE CAN LEARN TO SEE JESUS IN THOSE AROUND US. WILL GOD MAKE US SAINTS IF WE DO THESE THINGS? OR WILL WE DO THESE THINGS BECAUSE GOD IS MAKING US INTO SAINTS? IT DOESN'T MATTER. WHAT MATTERS IS THAT WE GET STARTED.