Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Joyce Fienberg, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Melvin Wax, Richard Gottfried, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, and Irving Younger. A week ago, their day was probably not much different than the one you had, but two days later, all that changed for them when they were gunned down in the midst of a prayer service in the deadliest attack ever on Jewish people in our country. They were not Christians but I venture to say that they are amongst the newest saints in heaven.
They lived a life of holiness. They placed God first in their lives. They bore the trials and troubles of life patiently.
They loved their neighbors. They proved that love with deeds of charity and mercy. They forgave those who persecuted them. They lived in peace with God and their neighbor. They promoted peace by their words and actions.
They pondered the questions as to why this world has so much injustice and found that the answers weren’t blowing in the wind after all. Rather, they could be found in the hearts of those yearning to see the face of God.
Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints. The name includes the word “All” for good reason for we are celebrating not just the official saints of our Church who have feast days on the liturgical calendar, saints like Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas More, Frances Cabrini, or saints recently canonized like Mother Teresa, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Oscar Romero but also the ordinary saints who are also there; saints who have no feast days and were never canonized but who lived their faith in anticipation of spending eternity with God.
Our first reading from Revelation gives us a message of hope. The great multitude is from every nation, race, people, and language. They are dressed in white robes, signifying that they once lived as Christ taught. The number of 144,000 is figurative to suggest an extremely large number, one too great to be counted. An assembly that someday will include us if that is our endeavor.
The second reading from John reminds us of how much God loves us, so great that he calls us children and so we are. Then we heard the Beatitudes in the gospel, given to us not as commandments but as a way to live. They are the values and virtues that form the character of saints and hopefully they are evident in our daily lives as well. They help us to live as God’s children.
All Saints’ day commemorates the saints we have known and who have lived among us, the “blessed” of the gospel through whom God touches us and our world, ordinary down to earth folks who endeavored to live holy lives. Today is the festival when we honor the holy men and women who have walked among us and who have touched our lives by their humility and selflessness, their generosity and compassion, just as many of the victims at the Tree of Life synagogue had touched the lives of their friends and colleagues. Let this day be a day to remember the people on our lists of loved ones who have died; those whom we remember with gratitude for the blessings they have been to us; may the lives of our own litany of saints inspire us to follow the example of other grace-filled lives so that, one day, we may join their company in the dwelling place of God forever.
Today’s feast is a festive reminder that each of us is invited by God to be a saint. So happy feast day for with the help of Christ, someday this will also be our feast day.