“May he bring us all together to everlasting life.”
Reflection for All-Saints Day
By Fr. Maximilian Buonocore, OSB
Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints. We are celebrating all of the saints who have gone before us and who enjoy the peace and joy of heaven. But we are also celebrating the saints who are still among us – all around us – who are responding to the Spirit in them to live a life oriented to the end to which we are called – to know and love God perfectly.
Let me tell you a story about this. A man died and appeared before the Pearly Gates. St. Peter greeted him and said, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I will give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, I will open the Pearly Gates and you can enter." "Okay," the man says, feeling very confident, "Well, first of all, I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, not even in my heart." "That's wonderful," said St. Peter, "that's worth three points!" "Just three points?" said the man. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithing and service. I taught religious instruction and Bible study and was on the evangelization committee." "Terrific!" said St. Peter. "That's certainly worth a point." "Wait, One point?!!" replied the man disappointedly. "Well then, I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans, participated in various organizations to promote social justice." "Fantastic, that's good for another two points," said St. Peter. "Two points!?!!" said the man. Exasperated, the man cries out, "At this rate, the only way I'll get into heaven is by the grace of God." "Bingo, 100 points!” said St. Peter, “Come on in!"
The man in this story was indeed a saint, but there was still something that he needed to learn; and that was that living a life of faith and holiness is a gift. As a gift, we do not earn it. The merits in our virtue and our good works are the merits of the Holy Spirit who works through us to make his presence known and felt in the world. The saints are the instruments of the work of the Spirit in the World. We, too, are instruments of the Holy Spirit by the very fact that each of us has been created in the image and likeness of God, as St. Paul says, for good works. “For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:9-11) So, we are all called to be saints by virtue of being created in the image and likeness of God as his handiwork. The one characteristic that is seen in every saint is that they are spontaneous in doing good works. But the good works are not in themselves what saves them, nor is it even their faith that saves them. Faith and good works are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s saving power at work in them.
Remember, holiness isn’t something that we achieve. It is a divine impulse in which we share, and it is much too big for us to experience alone. As we all together share in the experience of sin and death, so too do we all together share in holiness and life. Each person is already implanted with the Spirit and the grace of God. The main thing that can prevent us from living by the power of God’s grace is not being aware that we have it. One day I asked some students: what do you have to do to become a saint? One of the students responded: “You have to die.” No! Becoming a saint is something that happens now. We are all children of God, not later when we die, but now, at this very moment and all through our lives. Whether you are a lay person or a religious brother or sister or a priest. [Christian or a Moslem or Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist], you are called to be a saint. Even if you are presently in serious doubt about the existence of God or the presence of God in your life, you are called to be a saint, because you are called upon to act upon the very impulse that flows from the image and likeness of God in you. That very impulse in you prompts you to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. It prompts you to welcome the stranger and care for the sick. It prompts your concern for social justice and care of the environment. A person may spend many years acting on these impulses before they come to a clear, conscious awareness of the Holy Spirit at work in them. But it will come; and it will come in God’s time. You may have to endure years of doubt before you receive the special grace of the awareness of the personal encounter with God that you have every time you do something good for another person and serve the needs of others. But you are doing just that: encountering God every time you do a good deed for another person or serve the cause of social justice. As Jesus said, “Whatever you did for the least one of my brothers or sisters you did for me.” This saying of Jesus is echoed in the motto of St. Benedict’s Prep: Whatever hurts my brother hurts me; and whatever helps my brother helps me. This is because we are all children of God united in his Son, and therefore are all connected in our calling to holiness and happiness in God.
So let us always take seriously our call to be saints, and daily support one another in our efforts through prayer, example and personal support, and, as St. Benedict says, “. . . may he bring us all together to everlasting life.”
The man in this story was indeed a saint, but there was still something that he needed to learn; and that was that living a life of faith and holiness is a gift. As a gift, we do not earn it. The merits in our virtue and our good works are the merits of the Holy Spirit who works through us to make his presence known and felt in the world. The saints are the instruments of the work of the Spirit in the World. We, too, are instruments of the Holy Spirit by the very fact that each of us has been created in the image and likeness of God, as St. Paul says, for good works. “For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:9-11) So, we are all called to be saints by virtue of being created in the image and likeness of God as his handiwork. The one characteristic that is seen in every saint is that they are spontaneous in doing good works. But the good works are not in themselves what saves them, nor is it even their faith that saves them. Faith and good works are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s saving power at work in them.
Remember, holiness isn’t something that we achieve. It is a divine impulse in which we share, and it is much too big for us to experience alone. As we all together share in the experience of sin and death, so too do we all together share in holiness and life. Each person is already implanted with the Spirit and the grace of God. The main thing that can prevent us from living by the power of God’s grace is not being aware that we have it. One day I asked some students: what do you have to do to become a saint? One of the students responded: “You have to die.” No! Becoming a saint is something that happens now. We are all children of God, not later when we die, but now, at this very moment and all through our lives. Whether you are a lay person or a religious brother or sister or a priest. [Christian or a Moslem or Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist], you are called to be a saint. Even if you are presently in serious doubt about the existence of God or the presence of God in your life, you are called to be a saint, because you are called upon to act upon the very impulse that flows from the image and likeness of God in you. That very impulse in you prompts you to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. It prompts you to welcome the stranger and care for the sick. It prompts your concern for social justice and care of the environment. A person may spend many years acting on these impulses before they come to a clear, conscious awareness of the Holy Spirit at work in them. But it will come; and it will come in God’s time. You may have to endure years of doubt before you receive the special grace of the awareness of the personal encounter with God that you have every time you do something good for another person and serve the needs of others. But you are doing just that: encountering God every time you do a good deed for another person or serve the cause of social justice. As Jesus said, “Whatever you did for the least one of my brothers or sisters you did for me.” This saying of Jesus is echoed in the motto of St. Benedict’s Prep: Whatever hurts my brother hurts me; and whatever helps my brother helps me. This is because we are all children of God united in his Son, and therefore are all connected in our calling to holiness and happiness in God.
So let us always take seriously our call to be saints, and daily support one another in our efforts through prayer, example and personal support, and, as St. Benedict says, “. . . may he bring us all together to everlasting life.”
All for Jesus,
Fr. Max
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