Category: Church

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Feast of All Saints

All-Saints

Today, we celebrate All Saints Day.

Why do we celebrate this day? Why is it important? Do Catholics worship saints? And why is it a holy day of obligation? Good questions! Let’s try to sort things out.

First, and this is important, the saints don’t need us.

Preaching in the 12th century, St. Bernard said, “The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them.1

Second, it’s not about the saints, not really.

It’s about Jesus Christ – period. I don’t mean to oversimplify things, but the stories of the lives of the saints offer us insight into ways in which we can live out our call to holiness in the circumstances and states of life we find ourselves – clergy, consecrated religious, man, woman, child, whatever your state in life, there is a saint out there who’s life might help you see through the darkness and find Jesus Christ. This is why it’s important to remember and to honor the saints – especially on All Saints Day. It’s not for the saints’ benefit. It’s to help us grow in holiness and love for Jesus Christ.

Ok, so what is a saint?

The Catholic Church believes that saints are ordinary and typical human beings who made it into heaven. How does the Church come to believe they are in heaven? Well, the Church teaches that we cannot know for sure who is in hell, but the Church insists that we can come to know who is in heaven. We call these people saints.

So how does the Church come to believe someone in particular is in heaven? Well, the Church employs a process called canonization which analyzes various kinds of evidence; reliable testimony to the person’s extraordinary holiness in this life; indications that the person’s life has drawn others closer to God; and carefully documented miracles occurring after the person’s intercession has been sought. Miracles provide evidence that the person can offer assistance because he or she is now with God in heaven.

How is that even possible?

By His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ conquered death. Death no longer has the power to separate those who are in Christ from one another. For this reason, we the living can help those in purgatory through our prayers and sacrifices. Also, those in heaven can help us on earth through their prayers. St. Paul tells us that, “we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,” (Eph 4:13). We are one body, the body of Christ. So the intercession of the saints is just one way in which Christ’s body reaches out in love: from the living to the living; from the living to the dead; and from the dead, specifically the saints, to the living.

Do Catholics worship saints? Absolutely not! Catholics venerate the saints.

Adoration, from a Christian perspective, is the act of giving ourselves to God as the One to whom we owe the source of our existence. It is an act of absolute submission to Him. He alone, then, is to be adored, to be worshiped.

Veneration is paying honor to a creature of God who deserves such honor. We remember the saints. We honor the saints. But we do not worship saints. Period.

Showing honor is a normal part of human life. We honor the founders of our countries. We name cities after them, we write books about them, we make statues of them and place them in public spaces. We paint and print pictures of them. We speak reverently and gratefully of them on patriotic holidays.

We also honor great scientists, leaders of social movements, artists and musicians. Why? Because it’s a matter of justice to recognize their gifts and contributions to our society, to our culture. These are examples of ways we venerate people in our various communities. Is it really shocking that the Catholic Church venerates the great heroes of our Faith?

Do other cultures honor saints? The short answer is yes. The journalist, Kenneth L. Woodward, points out in his book, Making Saints, that other cultures honor people not unlike Catholics. “The Buddhists venerate their arahants and their bodhisattvas, and, (among Tibetans) their lamas. Hindus revere a bewildering range of divinely human an humanly divine figures, including their personal gurus or spiritual teachers. Muslims have their awliyā’ Allāh (close friends of God) and their revered Sufi masters. Even in Judaism, whos rabbinic leaders have never encouraged veneration of human beings, alive or dead, one finds popular devotion to figures such as Abraham and Moses, assorted martyrs, beloved rabbis, and other tsaddikim, (“just men”), (15-16), (italics and spelling his).2

Why is today a holy day of obligation?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that a holy day of obligation is a day set apart by the Church to worship God. Sundays are holy days of obligation, but there are other days as well, like today (CCC 2185).

So on holy days, we are called to refrain from work and distractions so that we can focus on worship. You know, that idea of slowing down a bit is wildly important more now than ever, I think. On a holy day, the Church is asking us to get off the hamster wheel for a little while: to think about the things we have done wrong and ask forgiveness; to worship God to whom we owe everything; to celebrate the gifts we have, beginning with His Word and His Eucharistic presence; and to share the gifts we have received with other people.

Does that sound familiar? In business, how often do we stop and ask ourselves: what was our goal; how did we do; what do we need to do to execute our goal; and then we go do it. A similar model is at the heart of Christian life. We use words like “examination of conscience” and “discernment” to describe this process, but it is essentially the same. That’s why it’s important to honor all holy days of obligation beginning with participating in the mass every weekend.

I hope this provides a basic idea about All Saints Day, sainthood and holy days of obligation.

Let us pray. Loving and generous Father, the lives of your saints have given testimony to your Son, Jesus Christ. Through their example may we draw closer to him. We ask this with loving hearts and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. +Amen!

Notes

  1. Saint Bernard, abbot, sermon (Sermo 2: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968], 364-368).
  2. Woodward, Kenneth L. Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesnt, and Why. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Related Posts:
Memorial of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

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Happy Reformation Day: Ecclesia semper reformanda est

Luther95theses

Happy Reformation Day!1 Happy Reformation Day? While we might consider the rupture of Western Christianity as a great tragedy, this date reminds us that the task of disciple of Jesus is renewal, or to put it another way, reformation.

The Church calls all of us to spiritual renewal all the time – think examination of conscience and discernment. While my salvation is complete when I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior, my conversion is ongoing. Every morning begins a new day not only of blessings, but also of temptations – temptations that might cause me to stumble. It’s easy to say the Christian life is too hard and walk away. But the disciple gets up and runs back to Jesus. We heard that in the Gospel this weekend, right? In Mark 10:46-52 about Bartimaeus leaps up from his place, throws off his cloak and runs to Jesus.

But this call to renewal is not limited to us as individuals. Renewal is also meant for the Church. In some ways we give Martin Luther too much credit, because “The Reformation”, that is to say, reforms in the Church, began well before Luther and continued well after him. But today is a good day to pause and to reflect on renewal.

Can reform be good? Yes! St. John Paul II said, “The latest ecumenical councils — Trent, Vatican I, Vatican II — applied themselves to clarifying the mystery of the faith and undertook the necessary reforms for the good of the Church, solicitous for the continuity with the apostolic tradition.”2

Reform does not mean changing our nature or changing our identity. Reform means to return to the truth that might have become distorted over time. As the Second Vatican Council taught us, “Christ summons the Church to continual reformation as she sojourns here on earth. The Church is always in need of this, in so far as she is an institution of men here on earth.”3

So where do we begin? Well, we begin with Jesus Christ.

St. John Paul II said, “It is necessary to awaken again in believers a full relationship with Christ, mankind’s only Savior. Only from a personal relationship with Jesus can an effective evangelization develop.”4

Pope Benedict XVI never tired of repeating, Christianity does not begin with an idea or a program but with a person: the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who walks along the Emmaus Roads of this century and invites all into the fellowship of his friends.

Pope Francis constantly says that Christians are called to a mission of leading others to an encounter with Jesus Christ, in order that every person might grow in his or her individual call to holiness.

So reform begins with Jesus.

Where do we start? Well, I suggest we could start with our discipleship. Discipleship means three things: that we accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior; that we seek to learn more about Jesus and grow in relationship with him; and that we spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. I believe that brief description of discipleship holds the key. It is the simplest and perhaps most straightforward metric to evaluate our own lives and Church.

At every level of the Church, every leadership body, whether directly empowered or advisory, could use the metric of discipleship to evaluate the progress of a pastoral plan, an annual plan, or any organization or initiative.

How does this work, this product, this initiative, this goal:

  • Facilitate an encounter with Jesus Christ?
  • Help people grow in their relationship with Jesus?
  • Help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ?

I understand that this is a simple metric, but if we are to approach our faith with the faith of child, then shouldn’t we try to keep our practical theology easy to understand and actually something which could be implemented?

It could be argued that if any program, goal, plan of the Church at any level (international, national conference, diocese, parish, apostolate) does not in some way foster discipleship, then perhaps it is not a worthy endeavor of the Church or a worthy use of Church resources.

I think this idea that needs more development, perhaps now more than ever, but for now we mark this day and we remember.

Good and gracious God, thank you for this gift of remembering the Reformation. Please forgive me for the times when I take my faith for granted. Thank you for the many blessings in my life. May I use these many gifts to reform my life, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and to bring others close to you and your church. I ask this with the loving heart of a child, and in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. +Amen!

  1. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther sent the Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg a document protesting the sale of indulgences. This text came to be known as the 95 Theses. Ecclesia semper reformanda est is often attributed to St. Augustine.
  2. St. John Paul, II, Discourse, Oct. 22, 1998.
  3. Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio .
  4. St. John Paul II, speech to bishops of Southern Germany, Dec. 4, 1992, L’Osservatore Romano (English ed.), Dec. 23/30, 1992, pp. 5-6.
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Memorial of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

Drawing of Saint Lawrence on a gridiron being tended by two servants with prefect and crowd looking onToday we remember St. Lawrence. We don’t worship him. We only worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we remember Lawrence and we honor his memory.

Why? Why does the Church lift up some people and call them saints and why should I care to learn anything about them?

Before you read any further, I need to share a concern of mine. I continue to find myself bogged down in intense conversations based on misunderstandings. I, like so many, often get bogged down by vocabulary. In some recent interactions, I’ve found myself in “conversations” where two of us were talking past each other because we didn’t understand or we didn’t try to understand the words we both were using. Wars have started that way. So, I encourage you to try not to get distracted by the words I use, but rather try to understand my point.

There’s a great article on saints that I’d encourage you to read if you have you’d like to go a little deeper:

https://www.osv.com/Article/TabId/493/ArtMID/13569/ArticleID/15445/What-Is-the-Communion-of-Saints.aspx.

Here’s my point. All disciples of Jesus, that is all baptized Christians, are called to be holy. Let’s face it, that’s often easier said than done. It’s too easy to say, “I can’t be a saint because of the sin in my life,” or “if they only knew, I’d be kicked out.” So some fall into a trap of despair and find solace at the end of a bottle or some other distraction like drugs.

But the Church lifts up people as examples to us to show us that it’s never too late and that even me, with all my sin, can serve the Kingdom of God.

Take Augustine, for example. He was a womanizer, had a child out of wedlock, loved to party, drank and smoked excessively, among other things. Yet he was able to overcome his sinfulness and allow God to work through him. His writings continue to inspire Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals right up today. So we remember him. We honor him. But we never worship him.

How was Augustine able to overcome sin? Through an extraordinary act of faith, he surrendered his life to Jesus. We call that heroic virtue.

Look at his mom, St. Monica, who never lost faith that God had a plan for her son. So she prayed. I’m sure she lectured him, probably yelled a little and cried a lot or yelled alot and cried a little. Ultimately she knew that nothing she did would save Augustine. Only Jesus could save him. So she prayed him home.

Monica, who demonstrated heroic virtue, is an example of the extraordinary faith of a parent. The Church gives her to us as an example to parents everywhere that you should never lose hope for your children.

Today we remember Lawrence, a deacon of the early church. In the year 258, Pope Sixtus II and others were being led out to die. The Prefect demanded that Lawrence give him the wealth of the Church. Lawrence asked for a few days to gather it all up. During that time, he managed to disperse most of it to the poor. Days later the Prefect demanded that he produce the wealth. Lawrence lead in the poor, the disabled and the blind and presented them as the real treasure of the church.

The Prefect ordered Lawrence to be slowly cooked to death on a gridiron – basically a giant bbq. After some time, Lawrence yells out in a deliciously humorous and sarcastic way, “Turn me over! I am well done on this side!”

It took extraordinary faith, heroic virtue, for Lawrence to stand up to the Prefect (and to try to educate him in what true wealth was). He could have used the time the Prefect gave him to run away with the money, but instead he gave it away to the poor. He was able to face his death because his faith was in Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior, not in the Prefect and certainly not in all this world has to offer.

These are just three examples, but every saint has a story. It’s those stories that shed light on the good as well as the bad and sometimes ugly side of the people we call saints. But it’s not about the saints, not really. Those life stories hold opportunities that might be helpful to us.

Is every saint’s story helpful to everyone one of us? No, I don’t think so. I think that’s why the Church offers so many examples from the early church right up to the present. Somewhere throughout history each of us is bound to find at least one example that might spark something in us. What is it the Church hopes is sparked? It’s not about the saint, not really.

Through these stories of the of the lives of the saints, the Church hopes we might experience an encounter – an encounter with Jesus Christ; an encounter that leads to transformation; a transformation that leads to discipleship and salvation through Christ Jesus.

Happy St. Lawrence day!

Peace!