“Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord; or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour. This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.”
Psalm 23(24) [link]
There are several psalms that provide a description of the just and righteous person; there is Psalm 1, Psalm 14(15), Psalm 111(112). On this feast day of All Hallows – All Saints – we shall meditate a little on what makes a Saint. In three words, that would be humility, purity and perseverance. In the early days of the church – and we see this in the pages of the New Testament – all the Faithful were called saints. They were the Elect, God’s holy ones, chosen to belong intimately to Him.
And so are we called today. Through the Sacramental life of the Church, we draw so very near to the heart of God (if we only knew it better) that we could say that we already have one foot in the door of heaven, even in this life. By choosing for Him constantly over the course of our lives, by committing to the devout life without excuse, without remorse, we allow the divine Light to live within us, and to shine forth from us.
We must be proud of this! We must be proud that we are among the people who not only call God their Lord and King, but who call Him their Father. As S. Paul says in our second reading this weekend (below), think of the love that the Holy One has bestowed upon us to allow us to be His children, for giving us the grace in Christ to be like Him, to one day see Him as He really is. And that great gift to us – as the reading says – prompts us to purify/sanctify ourselves constantly. That purification and purgation is essential to the Church and to individual Christians, in order that sin be identified and eventually banished from our souls.
“Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth not us, because it knew not him. Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know, that, when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him: because we shall see Him as He is. And every one that hath this hope in Him, sanctifieth himself, as He also is holy. Whosoever committeth sin committeth also iniquity; and sin is iniquity. And you know that He appeared to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not; and whosoever sinneth, hath not seen Him, nor known Him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doth justice is just, even as He is just. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God, committeth not sin, for His seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.”
First letter of S. John, 3: 1-10 [link]
S. John is rather black-and-white in this letter of his; he will have Christians separate themselves out of a world of sin, in order that they may cultivate holiness. The world then looks at Christianity and Christians and cannot comprehend them, cannot easily bear us – in the past it has been more vicious to the Church, in some of parts of the world today it still is, but in most of our experience the hatred of the world arrives as scorn and ridicule. They call us ‘medieval’ as a slur, they daren’t call us ancient perhaps because they revere pagan antiquity. Every bit of suffering that nature and an unbelieving world may bring upon us is a cross to hang from, a means by which we can be purified and continue to boldly own this identity as children of God and to proclaim Him and His Christ.
This is what being a Saint is all about: standing firm in the Faith. The great Saints of the Church were not loved by this world. Grudging admiration some like Mother Teresa and John Paul II may have received, but when they stood upon worldly platforms and declared for Christ, the applause they received was rather superficial. But they persevered nonetheless. We see the spirit of the Saints in the beatitudes of S. Matthew’s gospel that we have this weekend for a gospel reading: the poverty of heart that Christian humility brings, the aching pursuit of righteousness and justice in this world, the mourning over the failure of charity in so many hearts, the determination to set apart all the good things of this world and possess only God, the merciful heart of the Saint, the quest for purity, the desire to still the violence of unforgiving man and bring peace, the determination to give their very lives for God and His Church.
“And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, and when He was set down, His disciples came unto Him. And opening His mouth, He taught them, saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake; be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.”
Gospel of S. Matthew, 5: 1-12 [link]
Some of the Saints may seem to us too perfect – S. Anthony, S. Teresa, S. Francis (shall we ever be like them?) – many others are often so very like us: not born holy, but who became holy. We too shall be like them. They are our older brothers and sisters in the Faith, who lived lives like ours and made it a constant effort to choose for God. They too were often distracted from the devout life – distracted by society, wealth, family, worldliness. But they persevered. We too shall persevere.
The first reading this weekend is from the book of the Apocalypse of S. John (aka. Revelation), a great vision of the Church. There is a great suffering to come, according to the reading, and a certain number of people are sealed upon their foreheads with a sign. Could that be the sign of the cross that we receive upon our foreheads at baptism? John sees a vast multitude of people of every tribe of mankind – this is the vision of the prophet Isaiah, who long before saw all the nations approaching the God of Israel upon His holy mountain. They are dressed in white – literally candidates – and they hold the palm of victory in their hands. They had persevered through the great evils that had been inflicted upon the Church in that first century of her existence. They were asked to deny Christ, they would not, they were tortured and killed.
This has happened ever since. It happens today. It will happen again. We honour these great victors as martyrs, and hardly a week passes these days before we hear of another case from somewhere in the world where several Christians have not been so treated (here’s one, and here’s another, here’s an ongoing pogrom). Many more Christians suffer less violent martyrdoms, when they suffer financial losses and give up social status to remain faithful to Christ. Some succumb to torture or to the threat upon their families, others to financial ruin, derision and mockery. The others become an endless source of inspiration to us, dressed in white, palms in their hands.
How much are we prepared to suffer in this world for this hope that is in our hearts, to work constantly to purify ourselves of sin, to seek out the grace of God, to find and embrace holiness? To dwell in the house of God. To be a Saint.
“And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of them that were signed, an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda, were twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Manasses, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed, of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand signed. After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God, Who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb.’ And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures; and they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God, saying, ‘Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.’ And one of the ancients answered, and said to me, ‘These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they?’ And I said to him, ‘My Lord, thou knowest.’ And he said to me, ‘These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple, and He, that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them.“
Apocalypse of S. John, 7: 2-14 [link]
