HOMILY FOR SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINT (THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A). 01.11.2020.

All Saints

Readings: Revelation 7:2-4.9-14; Psalm 24; 1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12. 

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN: ALL SAINTS. 

 

Today we celebrate the solemnity that brings the whole Church together, both in heaven and on earth. A solemnity for the Church triumphant, which consist of those who have the beatific vision and are in heaven. Today the Church recognizes the faithful departed that are not officially canonized or beatified by the Church, and so, we unite ourselves with them in this celebration as we implore their intercession on ourselves who makes the Church militant, so that we can attain a life of holiness, which qualifies us to be citizens of heaven.

 

The first reading makes us understand that heaven is large enough to contain everyone that aspire to live a life of holiness. John tells us in the reading, “I looked and behold A GREAT MULTITUDE which no man could number, from every nation, tribes and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb…” Contrary to some other religious teachings, which hold that only “A hundred and forty-four thousand people will enter the kingdom of heaven as exposed in the readings of today. Is that really the case?

 

Dear friends in Christ, the book of revelation is full of signs and symbols, imagery and most mysterious in the Bible, and should not be interpreted literally. Without doubt, this book has so much misinterpretation, among which is the pericope of today, “I heard a number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand (144,000) sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.” The 144,000 indicates the 12 tribes of Israel representing the Old Testaments multiplied by the 12 Apostles representing the New Testament and this is multiplied by a thousand (1,000), which symbolizes immensity or a long period of years (Rev. 20:1-3), which eventually amount to 144,000. In view of this, he added, “I saw a multitude… clothed in white robs, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice…” This multitude are individuals of all nations, races, all people and languages. They have passed through great tribulation and has washed themselves clean with the blood of the lamb.

 

In a similar way, Christ taught the multitude in the Gospel how to wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb through the sermon on the mount, known as the beatitude. The previous section of this pericope tells us “Great multitude followed him coming from different region” (Mt 4:25) and he taught what citizenship in the kingdom of God would be like. To gain citizenship to the kingdom of heaven is to have the attitude of Christ, which is the “BE-ATTITUDE.” The beatitude is the sum of Christ teachings, which exposes the character of the citizens of the kingdom of God.

 

Sermon on the Mount

The beatitude can also be seen as the PROFILE OR QUALITIES of the saints we honour today. The saints who were poor in spirit, who suffered and wept for the salvation of others. The ones, who suffered and thirsted for justice and truth and in this process, they were greatly persecuted. They remained pure in heart, merciful to all and worked for peace. While we celebrate our heroes in faith as All Saints, we are left with great HOPE that one day we shall be where they are.  In describing this solemnity, St. Bernard of Clairvaux says, “Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself.  We long to share in the citizenship of Heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins.  In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints.” 

 

This hope is clear in the second reading, when St. John tells us, “We are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” By virtue of our baptism, we are citizens of this kingdom, that is why we are called children of God and we have Christ as our sibling. If this is so, we have hope of resurrection, to see God as he is. John points out something interesting about the ‘be-attitude’ when he said, “We shall be like him…” In a nutshell, the citizenship of heaven is to be like Christ as the saints are.

 

In conclusion, the whole Church celebrates today’s solemnity, the Church triumphant, which are the saints in heaven, inclusively our family members and friends who lived a holy life; the Church militant, that is, Christians on earth, in our struggle to join the Church triumphant and finally the Church suffering, which consist of those in purgatory. To this effect, a plenary indulgence, that is, remission of temporal punishment in purgatory still due for sins after absolution is applicable to the souls in purgatory and to the faithful, who within this first to eight day (1 to 8) of November devoutly visit a cemetery or pray for the dead. This indulgence is also applicable to those who visit the Church or chapel to recite the ‘Our Father and the Creed’ and on All Souls day (tomorrow), a partial indulgence is applicable when we devoutly say the office of the dead or the invocation ‘Eternal rest grant unto them…’ (Ordo 2020). We pray that the saints will continue to inspire us so that one day, we will be like God, as he really is. Peace be with you!

 

Happy Feast of All Saints!

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ