Today, the universal church celebrates men and women of Christian faith; young and old, rich and poor, ancient and modern, known and unknown, who have gone before us and shared their lives – giving others a positive purpose to live and die for.
We celebrate, as revealed in Revelations 7:9-17, the great number of people that truly loved and served God and who have earned God’s reward.
Today, we celebrate The Church Triumphant, that body of Christ, who experience beatific vision and are in heaven.
Yes, today we celebrate with hope and join our prayers with the saints that we too may merit a place with God in eternity, Amen!
Below is a write-up from Fr. Robert Barren
Anecdote: Diversity of Saints One thing that strikes you first about the Saints is their diversity. It would be very difficult to find one pattern of holiness, one way of following Christ. There is Thomas Aquinas, the towering intellectual, and John Vianney (the Curé d’Ars), who barely made it through the seminary.
There is Vincent de Paul, a saint in the city, and there is Antony who found sanctity in the harshness and loneliness of the desert. There is Bernard kneeling on the hard stones of Clairvaux in penance for his sins, and there is Hildegard of Bingen singing and throwing flowers, madly in love with God.
There is Albertus Magnus, the quirky scientist, half-philosopher and half-wizard, and there is Gerard Manley Hopkins, the gentle poet. There is Peter, the hard-nosed and no-nonsense fisherman, and there is Edith Stein, secretary to Edmund Husserl and colleague to Martin Heidegger, the most famous philosopher of the twentieth century.
There is Joan of Arc, leading armies into war, and there is Francis of Assisi, the peacenik who would never hurt an animal. There is the grave and serious Jerome, and there is Philip Neri, whose spirituality was based on laughter. How do we explain this diversity?
God is an artist, and artists love to change their styles. The saints are God’s masterpieces, and He never tires of painting them in different colors, different styles, and different compositions. What does this mean for us? It means we should not try to imitate any one Saint exactly. Look to them all, study their unique holiness, but then find that specific colour God wants to bear through you.
St. Catherine of Siena was right: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
(Fr. Robert Barren).
Happy All Saints Day!