Devotion for today: For all the saints

Today is the Feast of All Saints. In the Creed we state that we believe in the “Communion of Saints.” What does that mean?

Scripture for meditation: Revelation 7:9

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: 960 The Church is a "communion of saints": this expression refers first to the "holy things" (sancta), above all the Eucharist, by which "the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both represented and brought about" (LG3).

961 The term "communion of saints" refers also to the communion of "holy persons" (sancti) in Christ who "died for all," so that what each one does or suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all.

962 "We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always [attentive] to our prayers" (Paul VI, CPG § 30).

Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D tells us: All Saints Day Means Holiness for All

…Holiness is not about what you do but with how much love you do it.  Holiness is really the perfection of faith, hope, and sharing in God’s very nature, which is love (I John 4:8). We are talking about a special kind of love here, the love that gives freely of itself to another, that even lays down its own priorities, interests, and very life, for another. So is holiness difficult to attain?  No.  It is impossible, at least on our own steam.  But that’s the thrill of it all.  God invites us into an intimate relationship with Him through Jesus.  He takes up residence within us and makes it possible to love with His love. Grace is the love of God that comes into our hearts as a free, undeserved gift and enables us to be like God. So that means spending all our time in chapel?  No it means doing daily, ordinary things with extraordinary love.  The Virgin Mary, our greatest example of holiness, was a housewife and a mother.  Jesus and his foster father, St. Joseph, apparently spend most of their lives doing manual labor.  But when Mary did the wash, she did it for love When Joseph made a table, he did it for love.  When hardship and danger threatened, they met it with faith, hope, and love. So holiness is for every baptized person, regardless of personality type, career, age, race, or marital status.  In baptism, we are all reborn with the spiritual muscles necessary to get us across the finish line.  Yet these muscles must be nourished and exercised if they are ever to develop and carry us the full distance.  God provides the necessary nourishment in the Word of God and the Eucharist.  And he sends us ample opportunities to exercise. But there’s the rub–many of us don’t want to exert ourselves.  It can be uncomfortable.  We stretch a bit to finish school, to excel at sports, to win the heart of the love of our lives.  But when it comes to the things of the Spirit, we often settle with being couch potatoes. Leon Bloy, a French Catholic writer, once said “the only tragedy in life is not to become a saint.”  Holiness is about realizing our deepest, greatest potential, becoming who we were truly destined to be.  What a shame it would be to miss it.

 http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com

My thoughts: “Holiness is not about what you do but with how much love you do it.” Have we ever really thought about that statement? We should, because it is the difference between being a good person, and being a saint. A saint only does what he does because he loves God. He sees God in every child he feeds, in every senior citizen he visits, in every driver he lets cut in front of himJ. Really. A saint does not do anything to get “credit” in heaven or to get recognition on earth. A saint doesn’t look for the easy way in life, but the road less traveled in order to bring the love of Christ to others. I think if we constantly nourish ourselves with the Eucharist, spend time in devotion before the Blessed Sacrament, and pray every day, we will find ourselves avoiding “the only tragedy in life” and instead, spend our lives becoming saints. How joyful we will be!!

Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God,
who enkindles the flame of Thy love in the hearts of the saints,
grant to us the same faith and power of love;
that, as we rejoice in their triumphs
we may profit by their examples, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gothic Missal