Last Sunday we pondered how the prayer of the poor in spirit pierces the clouds and finds a welcome in the heart of God, who sends the poor home justified. Today, the Church in Heaven and on earth rejoices in the Lord as we celebrate a feast day in honor of all those who have really been poor and have, for that very reason, been justified and glorified by God – namely, all the saints.
The saints whom we honor today are not only those who have been officially declared so, that is, canonized by the Church. They include the many men and women who throughout history have acknowledged their need for God and have done his will. Hence, St. John tells us in today’s reading from the Book of Revelation that he had “a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue.” We understand from this that the communion of saints includes people from all sorts of places, times, and circumstances. St. John also tells us that the great multitude of the saints “stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” The white robes and the palm branches are symbols of their heavenly glory and their victory over death.
All three readings given for our meditation today tell us about what makes a saint. In the first reading, one of the elders asks John: “Who are these wearing white robes, and where do they come from?” In other words, who are the saints? John succeeds in getting the elder to explain that the saints “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.” The “time of great distress” for us is our time of life on earth, where the Church Militant must struggle through pains, challenges, and different forms of suffering. Those we honor as saints today have been through it all, and now they are shining with glory, reigning victoriously in Heaven.
The symbolic language describing their victory is that they “have washed their robes in the Blood of the Lamb.” How can we understand this? In the Old Testament, the blood of sacrificed animals served to purify and cleanse people and things (cf. Lv 8:15; 14:14, 52). These purifications prefigured the infinite purification that the Blood of Christ would gain for us (cf. Heb 9:11-14). St. John in his First Letter employs the same image: “the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin” (1:7). Through the sacrificial Death of Jesus and the shedding of his Precious Blood, we have been saved and our sins have been washed away; thus the glory of Heaven has been made accessible to us.
Jesus has done it all, but it is the poor in spirit – the saints – who fully accept the offer of salvation. St. John alludes to this in his Letter. The saints are those who accept their true identity as children of God and who live in hope of seeing God “as he is.” “Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.” This is precisely what the saints have done: they repented of their sins; they accepted the challenges and difficulties of this life and united them with the sacrifice of Christ; they carried the sweet yoke of God’s commandments and availed of the Sacraments. In this way they have washed their robes in the Blood of the Lamb and are now enjoying the glory of Heaven.
Jesus in today’s Gospel announces in summary form the way to become saints, the way of true happiness: the Beatitudes. An attentive pondering of the Beatitudes will make us understand that they are the way of life of Jesus himself. He is the Poor One who shows us how to be poor so that we can be truly rich and happy. He is the Meek One, the Merciful One, the Peacemaker and the One who was persecuted for the sake of righteousness. He has traced out for us the path of true happiness and holiness, not only by teaching the Beatitudes but by living them. The saints are those who have followed this way, identifying themselves by their conduct with the very life of Christ – and now they are sharing in his glory!
Why do we have a feast day in honor of the saints? In a famous homily, St. Bernard raised this very question: “Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning. Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of Heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed…. When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, November 1).
As a member of the Church Militant, how often do I call upon the saints to help me in the “time of great distress?” How do the saints help me accept the challenges of being a follower of Christ? How is my daily life shaped by the Beatitudes?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 21, no. 8. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.