What is a saint? For some a saint is a member of the New Orleans Football Team. This year against all the odds, the Saints of New Orleans are once again playing in their home stadium, the Super Bowl. In case you haven’t heard, Marques Colston was named October’s Offensive Rookie of the Month in the NFL. Not too shabby for a football player who only played four games in October, since the Saints had their bye week on October 22. Some of the other NFL teams played five times last month.
As exciting as football is, there is something even more exciting that we are here to talk about today. Today we are here not to honor a football team, but to honor the saints who live and have lived among us on earth, both known and unknown. This tradition dates back to the beginnings of the Church when days were set aside to remember the martyrs. The deaths of the martyrs of Christ were first honored in the various localities of their martyrdoms. Later, because the list of martyrs became so long, especially during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian in 303AD, a common day for all the saints was set aside.
The first All Saints Day was believed to be held by the early church in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. In 411AD the Chaldean Calendar marks the Friday after Easter as a Day for Remembering the Martyrs. Later May 13th was set aside by Boniface IV in 609 to Honor the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, when the Pantheon in Rome was consecrated. It was not until the 700’s when Gregory III consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter for all the saints that November 1st was set aside as a holy day. Finally under Pope Gregory IV in the 800’s, the feast of November 1st was extended to include all members of the Church. So here we are in the year 2006, celebrating the Feast of All Saints.
As members of the one holy, catholic church we are saints. Now I must admit that there are days that I do not feel like much of a saint, but according to the scriptures we who have been baptized into Christ are called by God to be saints. In St. Paul’s address to the Christians in Rome, he writes, “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints”. To the church in Corinth, St. Paul writes in his first letter to them, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints”. To the church in Philippi, St. Paul writes, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi”.
Apparently, being a saint means one who has been sanctified by Christ through baptism into Christ Jesus. It is at our baptism when we are incorporated into the Body of Christ that we are sanctified through the washing of the Blood of the Lamb. It is not our own works that sanctify us, rather it is through Christ’s atonement for our sins that we are redeemed and sanctified. So whether or not we may feel like it, each and everyone of us who have been baptized into Christ have been sanctified and are known by God as saints in Christ Jesus.
As exciting as this knowledge is, I must say that it comes with a duty of responsibility. For instance, the sons of a king are known as princes. Whether or not these princes are good rulers or bad rulers they remain princes. All who have been baptized into Christ Jesus are marked as Christ’s own. How we choose to live our lives either for ourselves or for Christ is up to us. Yet, when we call ourselves Christians, that literally means ‘followers of Christ’, we are examples to the world as to what Christ is like.
Mahatmah Ghandi, the great leader of peace in India, studied Christianity. At one time he even considered becoming a Christian, but decided not to do so. The reason he gave for not becoming a Christian was because he stated that he did not know of any one who truly followed the teachings of Christ. Therefore, he believed it to be impossible to be a real Christian. This is a sad indictment of the Church. If we the Church are not following the teachings of our Lord and Savior, then why would non-believers want to come to Christ?
As Christians we need to live lives that are holy. We have been called to be saints and this is what the Lord expects of us. In the gospel reading today from Matthew, Jesus gives us a list of attributes for being a saint. We are called to be meek, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. We are called to hunger and thirst for righteousness. We are called to be poor in spirit, meaning to be humble and not puffed up with our own selves. We are promised by the Lord that when we mourn, we will be comforted.
The Lord tells us that when we are persecuted for righteousness and for the sake of Christ, we are to rejoice and be glad, because great is our reward in heaven and we will be given the kingdom of heaven. So when persecution comes our way, as Christians it is a sign that we are following the Way of Christ. We are being obedient to His teachings. We are fulfilling our calling to be saints.
The ways of Christ are contrary to the ways of the world. The world judges us by outward standards. Like how many cars we have or how big our house or place of dwelling is. Are we running with the “in” crowd? All these things are temporary, yet they are the standards of this world.
Only the standards of Christ, which are of the heart, are eternal. It is not the high-minded that obtain the kingdom of heaven, but those who are humble. It is not the ones who never know the pain of loss, who will be comforted, but those who have suffered through trials and tribulations who have known the comfort that only the Holy Spirit can give. It is not the violent who will be called the children of God, but those who are peacemakers. The summation of the Beatitudes is to be as Christ to all peoples.
That which is so easily explained, is yet so difficult to be. Being Christ like is very difficult if we strive to do it on our own. As humans we cannot overcome the desires of the flesh without the help of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion, the words “Not my will, but Your will be done” need to become our mantra in our daily lives. Only by seeking to live our lives as Christ would have us live them will we be known by the world as saints of God.
Is that not our purpose in this world? As Christians we are called to be saints. It is when we do not act as saints that we are living lives that are contrary to our very calling from God. Not all of us will be called to die for Christ, but we who are in Christ are all called to live for Christ. Only then, will we know the joy of Jesus in our lives. So let us go forward from this moment on, resolved within our hearts to be the saints in this world that Christ has called us to be. May the world look upon us in amazement when they see the love of Christ bearing fruit in our lives as we share the love of Christ with not only one another, but to all peoples.
