The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Here we are, the end of October. The days are shorter, the nights are longer, and we find ourselves on the eve of some really holy celebrations in the Church, tomorrow being one of the greatest. The feast of All Saints. We all are connected to the great saints of all in one way or another, by heritage, by parish name, or personal devotion. But I think God wants to give us a fresh perspective on this Holy Day.
Tomorrow’s the celebration of All Saints’ and some of us are wondering if you’re invited…
We are.
Some of us are wondering if there’s a laundry list
hanging above our heads
of facts, faults, and failures
disqualifying us from
harps and halos...
There’s not.
In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that the
Son of Man,
the Bridegroom,
became the perfect priest for the reparation of our sins.
“Jesus, because he remains forever,
has a priesthood that does not pass away.
Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him
since he lives forever to make intercession for them…”
Jesus can save anyone,
He’s praying for us,
and He’s not going anywhere.
Jesus can save anyone...
No one is so lost that Jesus can’t make a saint out of them. As Catholics we’re quick to believe this in light of our favorite saints but slow to believe it in light of our own lives.
That’s a problem,
Because it makes the saving efficacy of Jesus’ priesthood theoretical and past-tense when in reality it is applicable and present-tense.
He’s praying for us…
We come from a great heritage of intercession and for better or for worse we are all too familiar with it, but we would do well to remember that before our brother and sister saints started praying for us, Jesus the High Priest intercedes for us before the Father day and night.
I wonder if Jesus teaches the saints we know and love how to intercede before the throne of God.
I guess He never stopped teaching.
So,
How do we do it?
You know…
Become a saint?
Jesus, in today’s Gospel sets the standard.
The standard that no one expected,
except one man.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength…
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Maybe sainthood was simply that we thought.
Maybe the harps and halos are easier to reach than anticipated.
Maybe the invites have our names on them
And they’re sitting right under our noses.
Here’s to all the saints.
Here’s to their sainthood.
Here’s to our sainthood.
Here’s to your sainthood.
Christopher Finneman is Media & Marketing Coordinator as well as small coffee shop manager at Damascus Catholic Mission Campus in central Ohio. When he's not capturing and curating content for his personal and professional social media accounts you can find him crafting espresso creations, traveling with his friends, and obsessing about St. Francis.