Solemnity of All
Saints
(Revelation 7:2-4.9-14; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a)
A distinguished attorney is asked, “Who is the most
important person in the courtroom (to assure justice).” Perhaps it is the judge who sees that that
due process is followed. Or maybe it is
the collective members of the jury who make the final decision regarding
innocence or guilt. Or possibly it is the
defense lawyer himself who must investigate his client’s case and persuade the
jury with convincing evidence. The man
responds that after many decades practicing law as prosecutor, judge, and defense
attorney, he believes that the most important person in a courtroom is a
reliable witness. Such a witness’s
truthfulness and conviction become the determining factors in bringing about
justice.
We can define saints as reliable witnesses to Jesus. By relying on God, by striving after
righteousness, by reconciling opponents, and by practicing all the beatitudes,
saints witness to the primacy of Jesus’ message and the efficacy of his
grace. Their words and, more so, their
actions provide testimony that Jesus has risen from the dead to actively support
his followers.
The Church has officially declared only seven thousand or
so saints. But this number hardly
indicates all the people throughout twenty centuries of Christianity who have
lived the beatitudes. Today we celebrate
the millions of un-proclaimed saints who have given reliable witness to
Jesus. Their number includes an African-American
slave who lived so graciously that the slave-owning family buried her in the
family plot proudly claiming her as kin.
All of us have known people much better than ourselves who, we are sure,
belong to the legion of reliable witnesses to Jesus.
