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Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. But we can ask ourselves, why celebrate a feast for all the saints together? We have a particular saint practically every day of the year, like St. Therese, St. Francis, or St. Dominic, and so on. Why another feast for all of the saints? Well, first of all, just as we pray for all of the souls in purgatory tomorrow, we recognize all of the saints in heaven today. This includes all those who have reached heaven, even after having passed through purgatory, and therefore includes a vast number of men and women who are not canonized and who otherwise wouldn’t be known. The reading from Revelation thus says, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Rev 7:9).
For this reason, today’s feast should be very special for us, because for a majority of us—quite probably all of us—it would be completely unreasonable to expect to be canonized, and such an expectation surely would fall under the vice of pride. In this way, the feast of All Saints expresses a more reasonable hope for us, which is that of reaching heaven without being canonized.
Pope Benedict spoke about this type of holiness in his general audience on April 13, 2011. What is necessary for us, he asks, to become saints?
What is the essential? The essential means never leaving a Sunday without an encounter with the Risen Christ in the Eucharist; this is not an additional burden but is light for the whole week. It means never beginning and never ending a day without at least a brief contact with God. And, on the path of our life it means following the “signposts” that God has communicated to us in the Ten Commandments, interpreted with Christ, which are merely the explanation of what love is in specific situations. It seems to me that this is the true simplicity and greatness of a life of holiness: the encounter with the Risen One on Sunday; contact with God at the beginning and at the end of the day; following, in decisions, the “signposts” that God has communicated to us, which are but forms of charity. ‘Hence the true disciple of Christ is marked by love both of God and of neighbor’ (LG 42). This is the true simplicity, greatness, and depth of Christian life, of being holy.
So, according to Pope Benedict, it’s not hard to become a saint. There are three essential things, that is, (1) go to Mass every Sunday, (2) pray a little in the morning and in the evening, and (3) “follow the ‘signposts’ that God has communicated to us in the Ten Commandments, interpreted with Christ”. Today’s Gospel passage is taken from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. To better understand “The Ten Commandments, interpreted with Christ,” it would be good to read all of chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel, where Christ explains the meaning of the Ten Commandments for Christians. That’s something to do at home. For now, however, let’s briefly look at some of those passages.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: “The ‘pure in heart’ refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of truth and orthodoxy of faith” (CCC 2518). Regarding charity, we must remember the two-fold commandment of charity, namely love of God and love of neighbor. We must put God first in our life, and we must love our neighbor as ourselves, that is to say, that we must treat our neighbor as we want to be treated.
Regarding chastity, we need to remember that we are not to seek sexual pleasure of any kind outside of matrimony, and that even within matrimony, we should also accept the possibility of having children.
And finally, for the love of truth in general, we should be careful not to allow other desires to blind us to the truth. This applies particularly to the question of “orthodoxy of faith.” Without a love for the Church, it is difficult to have the time to learn the teachings of the Church, and is also often difficult to accept them. So, to maintain orthodoxy, it is important to develop our love for the Church.
Let us conclude with the final passage of today: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account; rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven” (Mt 5:11-12). While we try to live a Christian life, we encounter much opposition from the world, but according to Christ’s teaching, this should be a cause of joy for us, because it increases the greatness of our reward. And let’s repeat in conclusion: even we can follow this narrow way, even we can become saints. It is not for a few; it’s for all of us. So, let’s begin today!