The Sunday of All Saints

Last updated on: May 18, 2008 at 12:00 am by Henry Karlson

The Sunday of All Saints 2008-05-18T00:00:13-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12: 1 – 2).

So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10: 32 -33).

In the Eastern tradition, the Sunday after Pentecost is the Sunday of All Saints. As Pentecost is tied to the ascension of Christ, so is All Saints tied with Pentecost. Pentecost brought down the Holy Spirit upon the Church, and it is through the Holy Spirit we are incorporated into the Body of Christ; it is through the Spirit we are able to become holy. The Heavenly King dwells among us and cleanses us of all stain; and it is this defilement, the stain of sin, which closes us off from participating in the divine life of the Holy Trinity. And yet the Trinity desires our participation in their love and joy. Creation was made so that we can rejoice and be glad in the glory of God. And God, a God of holiness, shares with us that holiness if we are willing to partake of it. It spreads out and dwells in those who respond to it; it is willing to include all, but, because holiness is love, it does not force itself upon others. Rather, it lets itself be known, and opens itself up to our response; if we take it in to our lives, it slowly transforms us, working to makes us perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect. It is only because we accept it, only because we join ourselves to it, that we are able to become by grace what God is by nature. That means we need external help, the help of the Spirit. The more we rely upon ourselves, the more walled in our experience of the world will become, and unless we do not stop this self-destructive process, in the end we will be left to our own individuated, demented self. The more we acknowledge our dependent existence, the more that we see self-attachment for the vanity it really is, the more we will be free to incorporate ourselves into the body of Christ, the Church which is enlivened by the Spirit. In this way we become holy temples of God; if we keep ourselves open to that holiness, to love, our hope that we will one of those numbered among the Saints can be fulfilled.

Today’s feast reminds us that Saints exist because of the guidance of the Spirit. But it also reminds us of the great cloud of witnesses, some known, some unknown, who stand before the throne of God, looking down upon us, beseeching us to follow their example. They want us to join in the heavenly liturgy with them. In giving glory to God they are interceding to him for us, asking that God might be even more glorified by helping us to join with them in the heavenly festivities. All who reach the end of the race are among the Saints; their number is vast, even if in such a great cloud of witnesses, the Church knows and recognizes only a select few. This is not because they are the only Saints, nor that those we know are the greatest among the Saints, but because they are the only ones whom God has chosen for us to know. And he does so for a purpose: that we may be led by their examples, inspiring us to do what they have done. Through them we know that what they have done we can also do. It is possible. There is hope. When we look to the Saints and their lives, we see much which is great and worthy of praise, but we also see much which is human, much which is encased by sin. Somehow, despite how great their sin was, it was unable to overcome the work of grace. Despite their failings, God was able to work in and through them and turn them around. In this way we have hope: we know that, once we open ourselves to God, even a little, even in the midst of our sinful habits, grace can and will enter us; and this grace can transform us from the inside out, bringing about our salvation by repairing all the damage of sin in our lives. Until the end of the race has been reached, hell is a distinct possibility, but with the grace of God ever before us, we can live in the hope that our salvation is a greater possibility.

By working through the Saints, God continues to express his ongoing love for humanity. He continues to have missions for us in the world – as many missions as there are people — missions which mysteriously come from the one universal work of Christ. Whatever our mission is, whatever the meaning of our life is to be, it must never be seen as separated from the one glorious mission of Christ. The Saints are those who have found the meaning of their lives and joined themselves to it: they have found it in the personal work God has given them to accomplish. For, as Balthasar points out, it is in the reception of our mission we become truly a theological person, and by making ourselves one with that mission, however difficult it might be to do so, we become the person we are meant to be in the kingdom of God. But we must not be confused by this. Our mission is the foundation for our personal existence, and because it is given to us in and through love. Because of this, we must not think that this mission as something which controls us and eliminates are free will; rather, by being the internal center of our life, it gives us what we need to make true, meaningful decisions in and for the world in perfect, selfless, freedom.

When looking to the Saints God has shown us, we must remember that the total number of Saints who have found their place in the kingdom of God is not known by us, and it will not be known until the end of time. Many might wonder why. So much of it is a mystery for us, and deals with the hidden recesses of God’s plan. But, we can make some sense out of it once we contemplate on the life of Christ. For when we look to him, we realize so much of what he said and did remains hidden from our view; this does not make those events unimportant, for they cannot be: they are a part of the life of the God-Man. And just as there are more years of Jesus’ life we do not know about than those we do, so there are more Saints we do not know than those we do. For our personal mission is united with the one universal mission of Jesus to the world. And just as Jesus lived out his one mission, even in those times we do not know, so most of the Saints will partake of missions which had their foundation in the hidden years of Christ’s life and will remain hidden. Jesus did not desire us to look for and understand all that he did; so too, he does not tell us and reveal to us all of his Saints. Who they are is known by the Lord and themselves, and by anyone whom the Lord desires they should be known. But for the rest of us, they will remain, until God reveals them to us, as one among the countless unknown Saints. Even though we do not know them, they are friends of God; they are known to God and loved by God. His love is enough for them as it would be for us. And it is in this way, knowing they exist and honoring them through the Holy Spirit, we are able to praise them as we give praise to all the work God has done. Even if, in their selfless devotion to the Lord they sought it not, they deserve such honor and praise, not because of something they have done, but because of the mighty and glorious work of Christ done in them and through them for the benefit of God’s creation. To honor them is to honor God. They have entered God’s eternal memory. And like the Psalmist, we are to say to God, “How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17; the Greek, interestingly enough, has the word “friends” instead of “thoughts” for its translation of the text).

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