Becoming Saints
Our fundamental call, as Christians, is the call to holiness. If there is a Christian who is not working tirelessly to become Holy, then he or she has a misguided religion. Our life as Christians must be modelled to move to holiness, and this is becoming Saints. As we celebrate All Saints Day, this is our basic reminder that we are all called to become saints.
Why the solemnity of All Saints Day while we have been celebrating the Saints throughout the year? Today is a special day put a side to celebrate both canonised and those not yet canonised. The church may canonise a few outstanding saints but really all the people in heaven are saints and so this day gives us a chance to celebrate all of them. More still the process of canonization is not an easy process, and so there are so many Saints in heaven even whose process of canonization has not started or even will never start and so we have to celebrate them on this day. It's an opportunity to pray through all saints and even your saint who does not appear on the saints' calendar.
As we have seen, our basic and fundamental call is to become saints but how do we become saints? It is very easy, just live as a Christian, that is, living the beatitudes. The saints we celebrate today didn't have to do things beyond their limits but did simple things but with extraordinary love while standing for the truth and justice guided by the Gospel and especially the beatitudes. We too can become saints if we do this. Today's readings give us some ways to become Saints.
The first reading from the book of Revelation gives us the reward of standing for the truth, making Christ our only Lord and avoiding worldly lures. The reward is attaining sainthood. Remember, the Book of Revelation was written during the first persecutions of the Christians. It is built on the promise that, after persecution, those who are faithful to God and to Christ will be delivered and gathered into the peace of God’s presence. At the time of writing, the persecuting force from which they were to be delivered was the might of the Roman Empire, with its immorality, its materialism, its consumerism, and above all its demand that all its subjects should worship the Emperor as Lord. For Christians at that time, the late first century, the great test was whether they would accept the standards of the Empire or remain faithful to the demanding standards of Christianity. The same decision stands before Christians in today’s world so that we become the people who have washed their robes in the blood of the lamb. Who is my Lord: Christ or the standards for which the emperor stood, carelessness about sexual morality, materialism, consumerism, putting myself first in everything without regard for the cost to others? Do I connive at and approve standards of behaviour which are built on a morality far from that of Christ? More pressingly, do I accept those standards for myself?
From the second reading, Saint John tells us that we are already God's children though what we shall be is not yet revealed. But if we behave and live as God's children, we shall be like him because we shall see him face to face; this is sainthood. We are already God’s children, because we have been adopted in Christ and can cry ‘Abba, Father!’ What are the implications of this adoption to sonship? Sometimes a son is almost absurdly like his father in looks, gestures, mannerisms and ways of approaching any task. For ourselves we cannot yet fully know what this likeness will consist in, but we are promised that in the fullness of revelation we will be assimilated to God. Not only must we be close to our Father in prayer, but we must also show the qualities of God in our actions, God’s generosity, his forgiveness, his openness. This is shown in the way we live. We become saints by our way of life. Part of this must be that we will find that God has developed in us all the qualities we most love and admire in others, sons assimilated to their father. It will be a world of universal joy and appreciation, as all is suffused with the generosity and love of the Father. ‘We shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is’, and this means that the vision of God will be so overwhelming that we cannot but become like him.
Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus summarises the way we should take if we want to be Saints in the kingdom of heaven. The only sure way is to live the beatitudes. Beatitudes are at the centre of Christian living. Anyone who doesn't not live the beatitudes is not a Christian. That's why Mahatma Gandhi once observed, until one comes to live the beatitudes, one has not begun to live Christianity! The Beatitudes are the conditions of entering the Kingdom of God and the standard of Christian life in which we are all called to live. They are very contradictory to the world living because one may ask: How can one find happiness in poverty, persecution, mourning, sadness and being hated? However, understanding the Beatitudes in a world sense is not logical, they are spiritual attitudes necessary for those who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let's think of all the saints. It is truly a wonder to think of the variety and diversity of the saints. They were poor in spirit and thirsty for righteousness. They were meek and merciful, poor and peaceful. They were persecuted, insulted, and mocked. And what did they receive in exchange? Happiness in Heaven. One thing all the saints have in common is their reward of Heaven, eternal life with Jesus. And that is where all our sufferings and crosses in Christ are leading us too. So rejoice and be glad!
Reflect, today, upon the beautiful truth that you are called to become a saint. And the surest path to sainthood is the Beatitudes. Read them carefully. Meditate upon them and know that they reveal to you how God is calling you to live. If one of these Beatitudes stands out to you, then spend time focusing upon it. Work to internalise these graces, and God will work wonders in your life, one day making this solemnity within our Church a true celebration of your life well lived. And if you find out the one which is hard for you to live, pray for the aid of the Holy Spirit. Resolve today to live the Beatitudes as you hear an inner voice telling you: Blessed are You! You are called to be a Saint!
Let us Pray
Lord, I know you are calling me to become a Saint and that's what you always want of me. But you also tell me that to become a Saint, I have to live the beatitudes, while the world is also pulling me from them. Help me always to strive to live up to the beatitudes so that I become a Saint. Amen.
Be blessed
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