All Saints’ Day (Pentecost +25) (Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31)6/27/2018 We celebrate today as the Feast of All Saints, which was on this past Tuesday, the 1st of November. It is one of seven Principal Feasts that The Episcopal Church celebrates every year. Can anyone guess what those seven Principal Feasts are? Christmas, the Epiphany (January 6), Easter, Ascension Day (40 days from Easter; always on a Thursday), Pentecost (50 days from Easter), Trinity Sunday (a week after Pentecost), and All Saints’ Day. And All Saints’ Day that we celebrate today can be moved from a fixed date to the following Sunday when it doesn’t fall on a Sunday that year. So, enough of going over the history of liturgical calendar! And let’s talk about saints!
There are over about 10,000 saints who are officially canonized in the East and the West. You might have favorite or patron saints that you admire. I can think of St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, and the list goes. So who exactly is a saint? Who are these people? How would you define a saint? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a saint is defined as “a person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death.” I’m actually not convinced this is a good definition. What does it mean that a person is holy or virtuous? Is someone born to be holy or virtuous? Does being holy require us to do certain things and follow certain rules? Who really is a saint? What does it mean to be a saint? It seems our gospel reading from St. Luke gives an idea of it. We are given the text which is part of what’s called “The Sermon on the Plain.” Based on the teaching of Jesus, we can easily think that saints are the ones who has the four blessings, the four beatitudes; being poor, hungry, weeping, and being hated. And most importantly, saints are the ones who love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse them, and pray for those who abuse them. How does it sound like to you if I say you’ve gotta do all these in order to become a saint yourself? It just sounds impossible, and unrealistic! Our immediate response would be, “Not me. Maybe someone else.” We might not become one, but we can definitely recommend and suggest others to become one. As a way to be humble, we might want to defer that honor to others! So, it sounds like it’s incredibly difficult and almost impossible for any of us here at St. Paul’s to become a saint. It makes us feel like we’re never good enough. We’re morally imperfect. Our faith is always shaky. I don’t pray regularly. I don’t do this and that. We can come up with 10,000 reasons not to become a saint. Then the question is why do we even bother to celebrate All Saints’ Day? Are we just gathered here merely to commemorate or fossilize all the saints in heaven because we can never be like them? I highly doubt that. I like to quote Dorothy Day’s saying about being a saint. She once said, ““We are all called to be saints, and we might as well get over our bourgeois fear of the name. We might also get used to recognizing the fact that there is some of the saint in all of us. Inasmuch as we are growing, putting off the old man and putting on Christ, there is some of the saint, the holy, the divine right there.” (quotes from ‘All are called to be saints,’ Robert Ellsberg, The Catholic Worker, May 2015) How does this sound like now? Is there any chance that we can see “some of the saint” in us? Still not sure? Let’s think about your personal saints. These are your personal saints who are not officially canonized and recognized by the Church. These are ordinary people who you have known for years, and you know that they are saintly. They may be dead, or still alive. Why do you think they’re like saints? What makes you think of them as saints? Are they morally perfect? Is that why you consider them as saints? I guess it’s not so much about them morally correct or them being faithful churchgoers. There must be something that they do to you. There must be something that is so special about them. They don’t even have to be the ones who you have known for a long time. They can be anyone who does something special and meaningful to you. I can think of one person. He was a friend and a mentor. He was so significant in my faith journey, especially during my ordination process. Not only that he helped me and gave me helpful information about certain things, but he really cared for my soul. And I’m realistic enough to recognize that he was never a perfect person. But I know for 100% sure that he really did pray for me. He died of lung cancer last December at the age of 43, leaving his wife and four beautiful children. Even though he’s no longer physically present, I can still feel that he’s praying for me. Can you think of anyone like my personal saint? I’m sure we all do. There are many reasons why we consider them as saints. And the main reason why we experience them as such is because we experience God’s unconditional mercy and acceptance in them. We experience that we’re truly heard, understood, cared, and loved. Through them, we not only experience God’s love, but see God. We see Christ in them. The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams defines a saint as a window through which the light of God comes in a particular place. (Rowan Williams, ‘Saints,’ in Joan Chittister and Rowan Williams, Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia for All That Is) Being a saint is not so much about having a holy and virtuous characteristic. It’s not so much about morally perfect, correct, and right all the time. It’s about one being the window for God’s mercy to come through in a particular place and at a particular moment for the sake of others. All the saints, whether official or personal, are the ones who have opened themselves for God’s light to shine through their vulnerabilities for the sake of others including their enemies. Let’s look at those beautiful Tiffany stained glass windows here at St. Paul’s. They’re dim and almost fragmented without daylight. But when sunlight comes through, they’re splendid! They’re transfigured, not because of who they are, but because of who they become with day light. Becoming a saint is like that. Without God’s light, we’re dim and fragmented. But with God’s light, we’re transfigured. (images borrowed from Benjamin Myers’ Christ The Stranger in p. 78) Jesus who speaks of the four beatitudes and four woes is the light of God becoming human. Imagine why so many people, especially those considered losers and sinners by their society, kept coming to see him, be with him, and follow him. They experienced the fullness of God’s light, God’s unconditional mercy and compassion that they never experienced in their lives. We’re all called to be saints. This is to say, we are all called to be the windows of God where Christ shines through. Let’s not block that gracious light that is reaching out to others. Let the light come through us! And this is only possible when we empty ourselves, our selfish wills and desires, and take ourselves as God’s gift to us. Enjoy God’s gift to us, that is ourselves. The more we share this gift with others, the more we become true to ourselves, our transfigured selves, that are saintly, more like Christ! And those with whom we share ourselves also become true to themselves, more like Christ. Hans Urs von Balthasar, a priest and a theologian, said “What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” In the Sacrament of Baptism, we are linked with all the saints, official and personal, living and dead, far and near through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Don’t get too stressed about being a saint, or following the four blessings and loving our enemies. These are the fruits of our Christian life. Let’s simply be in love with Christ who is unconditionally merciful and loving. And let’s just hang around in the company of all saints. We’ll be transfigured! In our Eucharistic Prayers, we always pray that, “Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels, and with the company of heaven…” We don’t simply say these words. We pray them because we believe it to be true. As we partake the Body and Blood of Christ, we’re not only taking that “some of the saint” in a literal sense, but the real presence of Christ in us. May all the saints continue to keep us in their prayers so that we like them become the windows of God and sanctuaries of God’s presence where people experience God’s mercy in us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
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