All Saints Homily

Every one of us should be able to point out at least a few of the saints that we have devotion towards. Maybe we have chosen this certain saint because they share the name that was given to us at birth, have experienced and triumphed over something that we in return struggle against, have a story that inspires us to walk along a path towards holiness, or are patrons towards something that is important to us. The saints are truly an army of believers who have given of themselves to the point where they were found worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Not only is this day about the countless amount of saints who are venerated inside of the Church, but this day is also to venerate each unknown saint that has been called to Heaven. Each soul that has passed from this life and has been counted worthy now for the rest of eternity will be following this true unending devotion of God that was found in Saint John's Book of Revelation. They truly prostrate themselves before God because here is found the fount of all holiness.

For us the saints should not feel as if they are far away. The saints are truly apart of our life because they inspire us and draw us towards love of God. Their life was such an outpouring of love towards God that it would only make sense that upon death they would continue to desire to draw souls not to themselves, but to the love of God. We are able to say that the saints pray for us in a very special way because through their shedding of self they have been called into perfect communion with God ,who is perfect love, that is constantly being poured out into our lives. If we find that we have a weak devotion towards the saints we should begin to study their lives and trust that through devotion to them we will indeed be brought into a closer communion with God. Devotion to the saints is fully in line with 1 Timothy 2:5 which states: "there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ." This is so because we as human turn towards them to pray to Jesus as we do for others whom we know in this life.

Through our devotion to the saints we should be led along our ultimate path inside of this life. Our ultimate path is the quest that each saint has had which is to achieve for ourselves sainthood. We are all called to be saints because God desires that we will cast away our sin and trust in his unending mercy. I hope that we realize that our ultimate goal should be to get to Heaven because this requires true love of God. If our goal is to get Heaven we must realize that we must be challenged to share in the love that the saints have for God. The saints did not just acknowledge their sin in their heart, but confessed it and challenged themselves each day to turn away from it completely. We must also find time to examine our own conscience so that we can be aware of our sin. No matter how well we can argue to ourself attempting to rationalize or sin or to throw away the wisdom of the Church; sin remains sin. Sin can never be rationalized because it always pulls us along perverting love to meet our own needs instead of allowing love to be an outpouring of self. This perfect love is that which over time led the saints to Heaven.

In the Gospel we are given the eight beatitudes which we have heard on many occasions. The beatitudes are truly a path that can be followed to led us to the perfect love for God that was found with the saints. In the first example that we are given we are shown ways in which people have become slaves to the world in some manner. We are then given the contrary example which allows a person to become liberated from enslavement and in return be transformed into truly being able to serve God out of love. The examples of loving the world are hard for us to break away from. Sin as awful as it is; is truly the easy path that is chosen. The opposite is a hard path to remain on, but is the most rewarding because it will not led us to enslavement towards our passions, but instead to the outpouring of self which is true love.

On this All Saints Day may each of us be inspired through the true love that is found with the saints. This true love of God that is found with the saints is not only for them that dwell with God in Heaven, but is also for all of us who dwell here on earth below. Our sights should not be placed upon becoming enslaved by the things of this world, but through the tension of the living out of the beatitudes we will find true interior peace and contentment that is a real glimpse into the rewards that we will enjoy in Heaven. These are the rewards that the saints have already received and through our devotion to them we hope that we will one day join with them in that great vision of the Heavenly Kingdom that was found in Revelation. It here that we will join with them in laying prostrate before God who is the fount of all holiness. It is only from this fount of love that we will learn to love and realize our need for God's mercy and our own daily conversion instead of acceptance of sin. May we allow all the angels and saints of Heaven to intercede for us this day that we may one day be able to behold the face of God.