Happy Feast of All Saints! There are so many wonderful men and women who have gone before us, giving us examples of how to live, or sometimes, what NOT to do! I think there is a saint for almost any situation/career/grace that you could think of. What inspires me the most is that many of the saints are ordinary people who loved God completely. As we heard at Mass today, we don't have to be a St. Thomas Aquinas (very scholarly) or St. Theresa of Kolkata (working with the poorest of the poor). Yet we are not excused from being saint just because we don't think we can measure up. Sainthood is not only defined by great acts, although there are many saints who were heroic in their actions. To me, being a saint is as basic as Matthew Kelly's famous catchphrase - "Becoming the best version of ourselves." I love that expression, because it highlights two things: 1) That we don't have to becomeanyone other than ourselves. We are quality material! 2) We were designed to be saints from the beginning of our very existence. It is in our spiritual DNA! In our homily today, we heard that doing small things with great love is a saintly act. Many saints espouse that motto, but one of the best is St. Therese.
"Little things done out of love are those that charm the Heart of Christ… On the contrary, the most brilliant deeds, when done without love, are but nothingness."
One of my favorite songs, taken from Revelation 7, is Worthy is the Lamb. When you read Scripture and listen to the song, you see the beautiful correlations.
I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”
All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed:
“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
Any time I sing and/or play for Mass, I try to be fully present. This means truly believing what I'm singing, and thus, singing with conviction and emphasis. This song resonates with me, and I find it easy to pour my heart into the music. There are not enough words to describe Jesus' gift of salvation, and any attempt will fall short. Yet, my attempts to do so are a gift to God. The fact that I recognize how inadequate my words are, how inept my actions can be, reinforces the beauty of God's love. God is pleased with my attempts, minor though they are. I consider this to be practice for the glorious day when we are robed in white, praising God non-stop. So, until that day comes, we must continue to strive to be worthy, as God is.
Prayer - Lord, help me to grow in awareness of Your greatness. Open my eyes to Your beauty and power. Grant me the ability to see You in my life, so that I may live every day and every moment for You. May I continually strive to attain You. Amen.
