All Saints' Day, 2010

 

All Saints' Day
November 1, 2010
Mt 5.1-12
Fr. Dow Sanderson

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To be baptized is to be called to die.

It sounds like a religious platitude.  We understand it metaphorically, of course.  We die to our old natures in baptism... and are raised with Christ to a new way of living.

 ... For many contemporary Christians, these are "symbolic" words.

Not so in the first centuries of the church.  The first Christians understood them to have great and severe consequences.

Parents turned against their children who became Christian.  Husbands against wives. Brothers against brothers.  A man's foes, indeed, were those of his own household.

And just as the Savior had promised, those who followed him were suffered to take up their cross.

St. Stephen took it up as he proclaimed the Gospel, even at the cost of being stoned to death.

St. Peter was crucified upside down...

St. Paul... beheaded on the same day...

St. Perpetua refused to deny her Savior, and was thrown to the wild beasts, even as the crowds cheered madly.

From earth's wide bounds, the countless hosts have poured forth their life blood in martyrdom.

And the persecuted, early church needed these saints, these heroes.  These who had endured.  These who had persevered.  These who now shine in glory, even as the church militant feebly struggles. 

It was for the same reason that the book of Revelation was written... not as some prophetic blue-print by which Christians could "predict" future catastrophes, raptures and tribulations....  (That is mostly an early 20^th century phenomenon)... But the book of Revelation was written as an encouragement to those who suffered the persecutions that were actually happening in the church, and to show a vision of the saints in Glory, of the Supper of the Lamb, of the New Jerusalem, of which the Holy Catholic Church is a type and foretaste.

And so, as the church grew and developed, she kept holy those anniversaries of the great martyrs.  Relics were kept.  Mass was offered on the sacred tombs as altars.  It was a way of showing the continuity of the church on earth and the church in heaven... for all are one in thee, O Lord,  for all are thine.

And just as the countless hosts about whom we sing could not be numbered, neither, soon was it possible to have a separate day for every saint,  there were too many!   And so the church gave us All Saints' Day as a way of thanking God for all his heroes in ages past.... All of those who encourage us as we run the race and keep the faith.

Tomorrow, we will gather again on All Souls' Day for a requiem mass, and offer the sacrifice of the altar for all of those, who like us, are the not-so- famous, but who are equally precious to God.  They have left this world, and are on an eternal journey of growth and bliss.  For God is infinite, and in our eternal home, every day is a new and joyous adventure of holiness, as we grow to see Him more and more.  Those imperfections of our mortal nature purged away, we become the saints he has prepared for us to be from all eternity.

All Saints' Day, then, is a momentary glimpse of pure glory.  Just like Peter, James, and John, who for a moment saw the full Glory of Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration, so, too, are we on this day given a glimpse of what we can and shall be, by God's grace and our own perseverance:  Saints.

On Ash Wednesday, we stare into our own grave, and it is ever so much darker and frightful on the outside looking in.

On Easter, we stand within His empty tomb, and bask in the light of the resurrection.

It is the contrast between those two images that helps us to know just how disordered death is.  It is a violation of the nature of God.  It is a disruption of his eternal hope and plan for us.  It was the enemy defeated for us on the cross.

All Saints' Day bridges this contrast. It encourages us as we strive to live in both of these worlds simultaneously.   ...A world where the sting of death still comes, but a world in which we have such bountiful means of grace, and the hope of eternal glory.

My brothers and sisters, we have important work to do.  Not only to become saints, but to make saints.

...Through faith in Christ, through Word and Sacrament, through serving the poor and needy, and by remaining steadfast in the communion of His Church until his coming again.

It requires our best efforts.  It requires that we refuse to be distracted. 

But O what blessings along the way!

May blessed Mary, ever Virgin, and all the angels and saints pray for us on this All Saints' Day, that we may join that heavenly hosts of saints...

For there's not any reason, no not the least, why we shouldn't be one too.

Amen+++