All Saints 2006

Perhaps unknown to many of you, in recent times Pope John Paul II canonized a great number of saints, more than any other pope, I believe. These were not all new arrivals in heaven however, as some of them had their cause for canonization waiting for a long time. One did get a sense from the frequency of the announcement of new citizens of heaven that there must indeed be a great number of them. This should not in itself be surprising when one considers that sainthood is meant to be the natural consequence of being a baptized Christian. All are meant to become saints someday, even though not all will make it to eternal life.

Sainthood indicates that there is a certain social or relational aspect of human life. One can note this already from the beginning of the creation of man when God pronounced His word: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” On many levels–physical, moral, social, psychological and spiritual–one can see the advantage, the rightness of man to have others as his companions and helpers. The desire to tend outward towards another being rather than to remain closed in upon oneself is something ingrained in our nature. There is in this, I believe, a reflection in man of a reality that is found in God Himself, forming, as it were, an imprint of divinity upon man’s nature. God, we may say, has this communal life within Himself as the Blessed Trinity: a relation of divine Persons in an infinite activity of movement of Procession and Love. This is mirrored in the creation by its own movement from coming into existence to its final end. For humankind, this final end or destination is meant to be a union with God in a heavenly society. After this earthly life (just as in this earthly life) man is not meant to be alone but fulfilled in a social life that satisfies fully his desire or tendency to want to go out of himself. Here we have the congruity, the appropriateness of the life of the saints. Sainthood, to say it again, is the right and ordained destiny of every human being. What a pity and–in the most correct sense of the term–tragedy it is for anyone to fail to obtain heaven: the very purpose and intended end of his life.

The glory of the saints is thus meant for all of us and it is a goal that is indeed attainable; it is not out of the reach of anyone. Sainthood manifests the will of God that all men should be saved and return to their Source, whence they will achieve greatness and a reward far beyond their highest hopes and expectations. Heaven is meant for you and you have only to strategize how you will arrive there by conforming your life to the prescribed formula. It will not be good for you to remain alone in eternal orphanhood. It will be good for you only to be a saint.