Solemnity of All Saints (01st November, 2020)

Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints (01st November, 2020) on the Solemnity

Rev (Apoc) 7:2-4.9-14; Ps 23:1-6. (R.cf. v. 6); 1Jn 3:1-3; Matt 5:1-12.

Topic: Called to be a Saint (Rom 1:7).

The Church as a family of God is of three states – the Church Triumphant (those already in heaven), the Church Militant (part of this family that are still here on earth), and the Church Suffering (our brethren who have left this world but were not as perfect as God wants and as a result are being purified where we call Purgatory). Today, the Church is celebrating that part of her that is already in heaven. These include the canonized and beatified and also those we never knew they made heaven.

As we celebrate these brothers and sisters of ours, it is important to note that the call to be Christians is a call to be saints, cf. Rom 1:7, 1Cor 1:2; 2Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:2. Again when God called Ananias to go and baptize Saul, he replied: “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem” (Acts 9:13). Furthermore, Paul in Acts of the Apostles while defending himself before Agrippa said that he (Paul) “shut up many of the saints in prison” (Acts 26:10).

Furthermore, our call to be Christians is a call to be part of Christ, the head, the Church, cf. Acts 9:4; 1Cor 11:3; Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18; 2:10; 2:19. And this Christ is the fountain of holiness, cf. Heb 12:10; 1Thess 4:7; Eph 4:24; 2Cor 7:1. Christians therefore have no option other than to be saints because the head and the members ought to be one. A Christian who is not a saint is a diseased part of the body and should be cut off, cf. Mal 2:11-12; Rom 11:22.

What then are the things the bible tells us about saints? Firstly, saints are God’s beloved (Rom 1:7) because they hate every form of evil and God in his turn preserves their lives and delivers them from the hand of the wicked, cf. Ps 97:10. The saints, “…shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (Dan 7:18). This kingdom in question is the one Saint Paul described thus, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor 2:9, cf. Is 64:4-5a, Eph 1:18). Hence, “precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps 116:15).

Again, the saints will judge the earth and the angels, (cf. Matt 19:28; 1Cor 6:1-3). Christians today do not settle misunderstandings among themselves without going to court, ụmụnna, ụmụada, village meetings, native doctors, idols, among so many others. This reminds me of what happened in one of the parishes around. Two Christians had a misunderstanding. One of them went and reported the matter to a priest of an idol. However the other reported the matter to the Police. In the process the DPO asked them if they were Christians. They answered in affirmative and to buttress this point, the one who reported the matter to the idol brought out his bible.

Furthermore, saints also avoid sin. In the words of Saint Paul “…fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints” (Eph 5:3). Christ our head has condemned sin in the flesh, cf. Rom 8:3. Christians are called to walk in the Spirit which brings life and not in the flesh that brings death, cf. Rom 8:6. The Psalmist calls on the saints of God to Love and fear the Lord for those who fear him have no want, cf. Ps 31:23, Ps 34:9. Our God is just and “will not forsake his saints” (Ps 37:28). The prayers of the saints rise to the throne of God mixed with incense, cf. Rev 5:8; 8:3-4).

Surely for some it is no longer possible for them to become saints. On the contrary, no matter how one’s past and present are like, he/she can still be a saint. The First Reading tells us of the great multitude “who have come out of great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14). My dear, no robe is too dirty for the blood of the Lamb. Hence for the Psalmist, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Ps 32:1-2). Let us pray for ourselves and never rejoice at our brothers/sisters failure. Heaven is for all.

So my dear ones in the Lord, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles of the saints at Lydda, cf. Acts 9:32, of the Saints of Achaia (2Cor 1:1), Saints at Philippi (Phil 1:1), the saints at Colossae (Col 1:2) among others, can you be referred to as a saint in your parish/station/branch, and so on? If yes, rejoice for you are one of those we celebrate today and if no, thank God because you can still make the best out of what is remaining. Please, make the best of it today. Delay is dangerous.

Bible Reading: Acts 9:10-14; Col 1:1-14; 1Cor 6:1-11; 1Thess 4:1-12; Rom 8:1-17; Rev 11:15-19.

Thought for today: Are you a saint or not?

Let us pray: Grace to you (all the saints of God) and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ – Amen (cf. Rev 22:21, Rom 1:7).

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May God bless you all+