All Saints Day Reflection

The great Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan, S.J. once wrote an essay where he neatly summarized the reason for the Church’s practice of venerating the saints. He explained that there are basically three important and theologically sound reasons why this ancient tradition exists. Considering that so many non-Catholics seem to bark up the saint-tree and challenge a practice that can even find its roots in the Hebrew texts, it is a good idea to go over them. 

First, the saints serve as “eschatological signs” that give witness to the fulfillment of God’s promises of eternal life. In other words, the saints are proof that there is life after death. They are evidence that not only Jesus was raised from the dead, but that we too shall be raised and take our place in his heavenly kingdom. In the gospel of St. John we read the words of Jesus when he comforts his apostles by telling them that, “my Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (14:2-3). The saints have already moved in. 

Second, the saints serve as intercessors for the people of God. Like Abraham, who sheepishly insisted on interceding for the doomed people of Sodom (Genesis 18:22-33), or the Blessed Mother who confidently interceded on behalf of the young Jewish couple at their wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-12), the saints intercede for those who call upon them for help. 

Third, the saints serve as examples of the potentiality of the gospel. Just as daredevils have taken the challenge of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel because others have done it before them and survived, Christians can strive to live out the gospel because others have successfully done it before them. The saints are proof that the expectations of Jesus Christ, through trial and error, through perseverance and faith, through blood, sweat, and tears (literally) can be met.

Lonergan’s theological triad is clear and concise. The great litany of canonized saints, whose feast days we celebrate throughout the liturgical year, and who have been charged with patronages as random as ingrown toenails (St. Martin de Porres) and fishmongers (St. Magnus of Avignon), have met the standards. They have officially made their way into the Church’s calendarium sanctis. 

Now, what about those men and women who also seem to hold up satisfactorily to the Church’s standards and have not yet been Okayed for public veneration (at least not yet)? I am sure most of us have been touched by saintly men and women who have reflected the image of Christ and have brought us significantly closer to living the truth of the gospels. Men and women who we are convinced have been given access to one of those heavenly rooms, even though the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of the Saints hasn’t realized that they are checked in. 

Here are three of my personal favorites: 

Bishop San Pedro, Fr. Sardiña, or my grandmother have not been canonized, but their presence in heaven, their witness to the gospel values while here on earth, and their powerful intercession lead me only to believe that, at least personally, I can include them piously in the great company of the saints. As we celebrate throughout this first day of November the greatness of those holy men and women who lived and loved with the kind of fervor only surpassed by that of Jesus Christ, let us thank God for the gift of all the saints, those we read about and those we have known personally.