I have been praying that you would be blessed for being in worship on this night.
It is after all – our names sake. I have been very aware of our worshiping together on this night for a couple of weeks now. It has a kind of strange attraction for me. An allure…
It is special. It is different. It is a Saints’ liturgy…on a “saintly night.” Our normal liturgy is all but abandoned.
The worlds…the realms are closer together…on this night…we are in a “thin place.” Or so people once believed…
Loved ones surround. Loved ones are near. There is “always a great cloud of witnesses.” Tonight they somehow “feel” closer. Perhaps it is just our awareness…
Often when I think of All Saints day…my thoughts are nostalgic. I know the saints. I have studied the saints. I have lived with the saints. I know who I have been with or near…our lives have intersected…hopefully we have touched each other’s – lives…we have journeyed together…and apart.
I have delightful memories of the saints…I love the connections…the ties…the bonds…
Many times the saints were kind and committed. They were smart and resilient…they were wise in their own way. They loved freely… and unconditionally…they made you feel important and special…they cared deeply…they made us laugh.
You looked up to them. Some were funny. A great many were faithful. All were loving each in their own way…as best as they knew how…
Sometimes I think we are too hard on them, and at other times I think we are not hard enough on them…they were very human… with all of the human frailties and pitfalls. They were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
It has always been “a tradition” on All Saints Day “to remember the saints” who have “impacted our lives.” To call them to mind. To remember them. To honor them. To savor them in our heart of hearts…and to give thanks for the journey that we shared together…
That’s where Blessed Martin of recent memory helps me…greatly…
“Simul justus et peccator” – they were simultaneously “sinner and saint”…they were merely sinners/saints attempting to live out their faith, the same as us…no different…
They were not superior human beings or infallible human beings…they were very much like us, warts, scars, bumps and all…
They are saints – not because of what they did – or how they affected me personally…
They are saints because of “what Jesus has done” in their lives.
He touched them. He redeemed them. He freed them. He forgave them. He loved them unconditionally. Jesus had mercy on them. He waited for them – with open arms. He embraced them. He received them into his-self.
Matthew’s famous sermon on the Mount, specifically the Beattitudes reminds us – that we are considered “blessed” – even though we are dealing with every day struggles, aches and pains…even though we are caught up in the drama of this life…
You gotta love the way the Matthean text does not say…Blessed are those who used to mourn…blessed are those who used to be – poor in spirit…because they still were…
They were struggling still…struggling yet…being a saint does not mean the struggle is over…or that you struggle no more…
Far from it, but it does alter – how you face the struggle…how you approach it…and how you manage to get through it…
You do so with faith…and with a hope that persists…
There may be dark days and dark times ahead…but we are encouraged by the legacy of those who have gone on before us. All those who have led the way…They were challenged. They persisted. They trusted. They believed.
They fought. They endured. They were considered saints…
And my prayer is and has been – that one day, we may join all those blessed saints in light. I pray it is so. Amen.