Solemnity of All Saints / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, liturgically replacing the observance of the thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Setting aside a Sunday in Ordinary Time for a feast day signals that the Church regards the feast to be highly significant, in great measure because of the lesson the feast teaches. This is the case for today’s celebration of All Saints. The feast is ancient in Catholic history with traces of it appearing as early as the seventh century. It became popular among believers, and since 1484 it has been a holy day of obligation.
It honors the many men and women from all walks of life throughout the centuries whose reputation for sanctity, often earned at great cost to them, led the Church to formally declare them as saints. The feast also reminds us that many other saints, unremembered but numerous, add luster to Christian tradition. Although not canonized, they received the gift of eternal life from God. The lesson is that a reward awaits us if we are faithful with the help of God’s grace.
The Book of Revelation provides the first reading. Probably no other volume in the New Testament has been the subject of such inexact, and even hysterical, attempts at analysis. About two centuries ago, for instance, an American Protestant preacher proclaimed wide and far that Revelation predicted the steam engine and that it would be an instrument of the devil.
Actually, the book is a marvelous testimony to the faith of its author. In vivid, enthusiastic and compelling language, quite evident in this reading, Revelation looks to that blessed day, perhaps heavenly but maybe on Earth, when Christ will reign supreme. Goodness and righteousness will triumph.
Today’s reading affirms several beliefs always cherished by Christians. God is supreme. Jesus is the Son of God. Earthly death is not the end. For the holy, life continues in God’s presence. Salvation is open to anyone, regardless of nation, race or gender. Salvation comes to people through Jesus, the innocent lamb of sacrifice on Calvary, gloriously risen, reigning forever, surrounded by the angels.
The next reading is from St. John’s First Epistle. This reading also insists that salvation is available to all and that Jesus is the Savior. Through his incarnation, we are the Lord’s adopted brothers and sisters and heirs of eternal life. Following Jesus is the key to realizing this wondrous status.
St. Matthew’s Gospel is the source of the final reading. The two preceding readings told us that the grace of God brings us into communion with Christ and that he gives us the divine promise for our eternal salvation.
In this Gospel passage, we find the blueprint for attaining this goal of salvation in Jesus. We must be merciful, humble, righteous, thirsty for justice, clean of heart and we must make peace with others. These are the Beatitudes and they precisely and clearly define Christian life.
Reflection
All Saints Day offers a powerful lesson. On this great feast, the Church places before us that great multitude of holy men and women whose very lives testify to the fact that total devotion to Christ is possible if we give ourselves to God’s grace. Such devotion characterized Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalen, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Junipero Serra, Maximilian Kolbe and Katherine Drexel.
The day is much more than just another feast on the Church’s liturgical calendar. It is a call and an encouragement. Granted, great pressures may confront us, some peculiar to our own circumstances, others from whatever is around us in the culture and the conventions of our time.
As have people in all times and places, we face temptations from the world, the flesh and the devil. They are often strong. But temptations can be resisted with God’s ever-present help. Faith and hope will sustain us, as faith sustained the martyrs.
Revelation and First John insist that following Christ is worth any price. †