Thinking of another contemporary saint, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, I read his official biography, “Rabble Rouser for Peace” by John Allen, earlier this year. I am a great admirer of Tutu and have had the privilege of both meeting him and hearing him preach and speak several times. We are all aware of the important role he played both in South Africa but also internationally in helping bring about the end of Apartheid in South Africa and in his leadership role in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the following years. But once again I was relieved to read that Desmond Tutu while being a great and courageous man who knew when to act and when to speak out could also be a thorn in the flesh for many church leaders; that he could be accused of being ambitious and loving the international limelight and all that went with it; in other words that he too was a full human being who struggled with issues of faith and integrity, with conflicts of loyalty, with all the temptations that lie in wait for those in the public spotlight.

What both these examples help me with is to understand that we honor the saints in every age not because they were essentially different from us but that they were precisely people like us through whom God did remarkable things. To put it another way we celebrate God’s saints because they are for us living examples of the Incarnational Process; that process by which God takes our humanity, this flesh and blood, as he took it in Jesus, and uses it as a vehicle for divine revelation. What I see in the Mother Theresas and the Desmond Tutus of this world (and each one of us can add our favorite saints to those few examples) are glimpses of God, of his kingdom life, or perhaps hints of heaven.

That famous passage from Ecclesiasticus, “Let us now praise famous men” for all its androcentricity is a helpful reminder of the great variety of saints, known and unknown. Of course as a church we remember and name many saints. It is a healthy thing to know that at most General Conventions of our church Holy Men and Women are added to the Calendar of commemorations of our church. But beyond that we know there are a countless number whose names will never be known beyond a small circle. That is why it is important on a day like this to name our own saints; those we have encountered in our own lives: parents, grandparents, teachers, clergy, friends, fellow parishioners, people we have met in our lives who have made a difference in the way we see life, ourselves, each other, and God. It is good to take time not only to name our saints but to give thanks for them.

That grand vision from John’s Revelation captures something of that. The passage speaks first of all of the 144,000 who represent the completeness of the redeemed, the perfect number made up of the 12 ancient tribes of Israel. But beyond them John sees in his vision “the great multitude that no one could number” who were also among the redeemed, “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” This wonderfully inclusive vision which crosses all barriers is a source of hope that sainthood is part of God’s universal, all encompassing plan, of his universal mission to all people in all time. It is this universal mission which is at the heart of what it means to be Catholic, part of the Catholic Church which we affirm every time we say the Creed. What the corollary of all that is that we are all called to be saints. That is God’s will for us. That is important for us to remember. Sainthood is not so much a matter of virtuous living, although it may entail that. But rather sainthood is to do with our response to the living God. It is to do with our baptism; our immersing ourselves in God’s living water; of opening our eyes to the divine dimension of life; of committing ourselves to Gospel or Kingdom values and attempting to put them into practice in this life.

And that leads us to the Beatitudes spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. It is easy to fall into the trap of seeing them as some sort of prescription for good living or a series of commands. But they are what they say they are: Beatitudes or blessings. And they are not about individuals but about various groups: the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek and so on. Those who are blessed are all those who ultimately depend on God; who look to God as the source of grace and life and hope. They are those who have glimpsed the Kingdom and who thereafter live life with and in that perspective. That is what I have meant recently by our lives being touched by kingdom values. That is precisely the quality I see in the saints. We rejoice in the saints because their lives remind us of God and his Kingdom; they stir up in us anticipations of the Coming Kingdom of God; they help that transformative or transfigurative life of the Spirit take root in us. They teach us something of the love and beauty and generosity of God.

And that is precisely what we are on about in this matter of stewardship. Of course stewardship is about money and the needs to grow our income and all the rest of it. But it has even more to do with us being called to be saints. How we use our treasure, our wealth, and how we use the gifts that God has given us will be an indicator of what we believe in. In other words what we do with our money, what are our priorities in spending, will illustrate what is important to us. How do we exhibit those “kingdom values” which are part of the baptized life? Do people see in our life something of the generosity and compassion of God? Do people glimpse something of the kingdom values in what we do and are and in the way we use our money?

As we celebrate All Saints let us commit ourselves once again to those kingdom values which the saints exhibit and let them infiltrate our lives so that others may give thanks to God for us and be drawn closer to God and his kingdom by and through our example. Amen

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