November 1st , 2009 • All Saints Day

Saints Alive!

Happy Feast Day! Yes I know that our celebration of All Saints Day is primarily about those men, women and children who have died and now live with God in heaven, but in a way this feast day is about you and me too. What “makes” someone a saint? It’s not their death...it’s their life. Everybody dies -- not everyone lives a “saintly” life.

But we’re trying to, right? We look to the saints in heaven for examples and we see in their lives not plaster-perfect Christians, but people who had doubts and fears, tempers and stubbornness, faults and weaknesses just like us. Most of them probably never imagined that one day their statue would be a source of inspiration for humans and a place of rest for the birds. So too with us. We need this feast so we don’t dwell on what our frailties are, but rather to see the saint within us. And to grow in a holy life.

The great artist Michelangelo is reported to have said that when he saw a block of marble, he saw the statue within and it was his job to “free” that statue from the surrounding stone. Within us is a living, breathing, loving saint. But sometimes that can’t be seen because of the “stone” around us. By “stone” I mean the hardened parts of our lives and the hard parts of our lives.

This Feast of All Saints is a day of freedom for us because as we celebrate the “already-saints”, we can see ourselves more clearly as the “becoming-saints”. And what we see, we can make a reality in the days that God gives us ahead.

So picture that there’s a statue of YOU in some church yard. A family is standing at that statue and one of the children asks, “What did that person do to be a saint?” Now imagine what the mom or dad in that family would tell the child. Think of all the ways you have helped others, forgiven others, been generous to others, cared for others. Think of your relationship with God, how you were faithful in praying, in celebrating the Eucharist, in helping others to know Jesus. Think of the talents you were given and how you used them to do God’s work and to make the world better. These are the things that will be said in front of your statue. Feels pretty good, doesn’t it? The family will then go home, inspired by your life. And then the birds will come to rest.