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I think we have the most attractive
parish bulletin in the Archdiocese and beyond. Which is why I wish more of
you would click when it arrives in your inbox! I showed the image to someone at the
office and asked who the young man at the far right was. She hesitated for a
moment and said, “your nephew?” My nephews are fine young men, but I
don’t know that any of them have yet acquired a reputation for sanctity—besides,
in words from one of the Monty Python movies, “they’re not dead yet.” Still, today reminds us that we’re all
called to be saints, and that there are many saints in heaven “that we don’t
know about! These saints are the countless good Christians who lived
throughout the centuries, who are present to God and to us in the Church.” And though we may not know the names
of this great crowd of saints, we know what they’re doing because
today’s first reading tells us. It’s from the Book of Revelation, a book full
of the Apostle John’s visions of heaven. St. John sees a numberless multitude
of saints, standing before the throne of God, wearing white robes and singing
a hymn of praise and adoration: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated
on the throne, and to the Lamb.’" An elder tells John and us who they
are. These are the men and women “who have come out of the great ordeal; they
have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” In a wonderful reflection on today’s liturgy, Abbot Jeremy Driscoll of Mount Angel Abbey reminds us that “This
pattern repeats itself in every generation of Christians.”  And this means something very important to each of us: in these difficult times, he says “it’s our turn now… to survive our ‘great ordeal’ with the help of our friends, the saints.” Speaking mainly to his fellow
Americans, the abbot is obviously thinking of both the trial of the pandemic
and the social unrest in his country. But there are other ordeals that
Christians face, or will face in the future. Is there any doubt that the humble
sacristan at the cathedral in Nice is now among those “before the throne and
before the Lamb robed in white,” with two faithful Catholic women standing
beside him? We need to draw inspiration too from
the holiness of the saints we have known. I have conducted the funeral Masses
of parishioners who surely now stand around God’s throne, having made their
baptismal robes white in the life-giving blood of the Lamb which they
received at this altar beside me. The example of the holy people we have
known is a big part of today’s feast, but it’s only part of the story. The
rest of the story is the help they offer us through their prayers. The preface for today’s Mass puts it
in a nutshell: through these “exalted members of the Church” God gives us, “in
our frailty, both strength and good example.” This is what Abbot Jeremy means when
he says we can “survive our ‘great ordeal’ with the help of our friends, the
saints.” This is what the author of the Letter
to the Hebrews means when he writes “since we are surrounded by so great a
crowd of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so
closely” and “run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” (12:1) Any sports fan knows the home team
advantage that comes from the sound of the loyal crowd cheering the team on.
We lose part of our own spiritual advantage if we don’t realize that the heavenly
crowd is cheering for us, interceding for us on this glorious feast day. And so I’d like to close as Abbot
Jeremy did, and express the same hope: “I pray that you will have joy in this
feast and that you will feel the power and strength of our own destiny – to
join the multitude in heaven, where we will praise God forever.” The Saints above, L-R: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Felicity, Bl. Chiara Luce Badano, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Charles Lwanga, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Gemma Galgani, St. John Berchmans, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Josephine Bakhita, Bl. Carlo Acutis |
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