Solemnity of All the Saints: Year B, 2015

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Rev 7, 2-4.9-14; 1 John 3, 1-3; Matt 5, 1-12: Solemnity of All the Saints: Year B, 2015)

 

   Led by the Church, our mother and teacher of faith, we learnt to honour and render reverence and homage to all the Saints and the Blessed in heaven. These include those who, because of their heroic life, have been canonized, that is, officially declared to be in heaven by the Church and those who are not canonized but because they lived a life of faith and entered into the next life in the state of grace are now in heaven and are enjoying the Beatific Vision of God. This solemnity offers us the opportunity to invoke the intercession of the saints to enable us follow the way of perfection as they did and become friends of God, very close and in communion of life with him. We also invoke the saints so that they could intercede for us to obtain the graces necessary for our salvation. The solemnity also offers us the opportunity to admire these our brothers and sisters who are in heaven and urges us to imitate them. Therefore, the Solemnity of all the Saints will become for each and every one of us, an invitation and a clarion call to sanctity of life which is the vocation of all the baptized, and therefore, a holy duty of all to seek sanctity or holiness of life (Lumen Gentium, no. 40).

    The word holiness appears too high, sublime and quasi unattainable to the normal human person, the normal Christian. This is because the meaning and connotation are not often clear in people’s mind. Most often, holiness is understood as possessing power to work miracles or the capacity of initiating some extraordinary woks (like founding a religious group or institution), or the practice of austere penance and self mortification. These aspects of holiness can be considered as particular holiness in the absolute sense, sanctity that is reserved to only few people according to the providential design of God. In addition to this type of holiness and different from it is the ordinary holiness that is for all and possible to all.

    One may ask what consists the ordinary holiness/sanctity? This consists, first and foremost, in the practice of perfect love of God and neighbour. In practical and concrete terms, it means loving God with all one’s heart and mind above all persons and things. He who really loves God with all his strength will not offend God by sinning but will seek to please him in everything, live in his grace and in his friendship. Loving one’s neighbour as one loves himself/herself would mean wishing our neighbour what we wish ourselves. It means, in addition, to love our neighbour as Christ has loved him. This would mean forgiving him his offences against us, showing him mercy, washing his feet as Christ did his apostles, and being ready, if the need arises; to die for him as Christ did for him. The ordinary holiness consists also in fulfilling the duties of our state in life, living the stages and conditions of our life the way God wants it and as Jesus concretely has taught us to. Each one of us is to attain sanctity of life in the state and in the condition of life which God providentially placed him/her, by fulfilling God’s will in all things and putting into practice the tenets of the gospel of Christ. This may sound arduous and difficult. Certainly, but it is also possible to all through the grace of God. In the first reading we have: It is immense multitude of people, which no one is able to count, of every nation, race, people and language. All these people are before the throne of God and the Lamb. The history of the saints in the church confirms this: people of all ages, of all levels of society, of all states of life, of all professions have effectively reached the summit of perfection of life. Think of it, people of your village, station, parish, yard and even from your family could be among this throng of Saints in heaven whom we honour today.    

    In our discussion of the sanctity of life of the ordinary Christian, we need to do away with two prejudices or fallacies. The first is that there are some people who think that they are excluded from attaining life of perfection because they are not priests or consecrated men and women religious. This is not true! For, just as we have holiness of life for the priests and religious, so do we have holiness of life for the lay faithful. If a priest fulfils the duty of his life, he will attain the sanctity of life as a priest. In the same way, the lay faithful, married or unmarried can reach sanctity of life, if he lives out his state in life according to the will of God. There are so many young people who know how to follow the will of God, the temptation of the world notwithstanding. There are so many holy married people who love themselves in the Lord, training their children in the Christian way and caring with sacrificial love their old ones and needy neighbours. There are so many lay faithful: workers, professionals, government employees, self employed, business people, teachers, market women, etc., who give courageous witness to Christian life and gospel message in their situation and circumstances of life, their homes and places of work. Such witness is sanctity in action, authentic holiness. It can be heroic taking into consideration the sacrifices some of our lay faithful make and the humiliation they undergo in order to witness to the gospel of Christ.

     The second fallacy that impede some people from straining to the life of holiness is the thought that they cannot do penance, great mortification, or cannot dedicate so many hours of prayer as is seen in the life history of some saints. Certainly, doing penance and praying are very important and necessary.  But it is not necessary going about in search of extraordinary penance. Is it not enough penance having to be patient with the baby who is irritated and disturbs everyone in the house or with any elderly person who is demented and causes confusion, here and there? Is it not enough penance to be firm with the youthful son or daughter who makes parents despair on account of their actions?  Is it not enough mortification being patient with one’s husband or wife who has lost his/her nerves and does not do his/her duty? Is it not penance and mortification affronting with serenity and accepting the difficulties and contraries of life, welcoming with the spirit of faith physical pains, mental and moral sufferings, doing ones job with good conscience, and being honest with one’s profession and vocation in life? If one is able to adhere to the aforementioned ordinary penances, there is no need to go about looking for many and extraordinary penance or mortification. The important thing is, as we try to react to the opportunities of penance and mortification that come our way in the ordinary circumstances of life, we do so with the singular motive of loving and pleasing God.

    It is important to add that it is necessary to take time to pray. It is necessary for the growth in holiness to bring out some time to praise God and to dialogue with him, a sort of time out with God. It is also important to always live in the presence and company of God, offering to him in the morning, all our actions of the day and renewing the offering several times during the day. All we do during the day become prayer, if we do them in the state of grace and for the love of God.

    We should, therefore, be convinced that we are all called to the sanctity of life, not to the exceptional and extraordinary type but the common, ordinary type which we can attain in the state and condition of life which God’s providence has placed us. We are to get convinced that sanctity of life is possible to all with the help of God. But we need to make serious effort on our part to always do what pleases God. Let us renew today our will to tend towards perfection, asking all the Saints of heaven to come to our help and intercede for us. I wish you happy Sunday and Happy Solemnity of the Saints! +John I. Okoye