Solemnity of All
Saints
(Revelation 7:2-4.9-14; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a)
Funerals of African-Americans in New Orleans lift
participants to the hope promised in today’s readings. Arriving at the cemetery, mourners step out
of their cars and their sorrow. They
follow the casket in a dance of life. It
is not a moment of sadness but an occasion of God’s victory over death. It is the time when the saints go marching
in.
Today the Church joins the great procession of saints who
have never been canonized to the ten thousand holy women and men officially
recognized. In doing so, she confirms
our sense that people whom we have known share the glory of heaven. These saints may include our gracious
grandmother who always had a few pennies for us to buy a treat on the way to
school. They also may number our favorite
teacher who not only taught us his or her particular expertise but also the
virtues of adulthood.
We must be careful not to indiscriminately say that all
the dead are now saints. Evil is a
factor in the world with some buying plainly into it. But no one lies beyond the reach of God’s
mercy. For those who led compromised
lives we will pray tomorrow. For now we want
to ask all the saints, especially those to whom we have been close, to pray for
us. We too hope to surmount the evil
which tempts us so that we may be counted in their number.
