Dear Saints,

This coming Friday is your day! The Solemnity of All Saints celebrates the true friends of God -- those holy men and women who choose to go the way of the Beatitudes.

Saints have long gotten a bad rap. Lyricists from John Donne to Billy Joel have cleverly (if not quite seriously) complained of their strict and sorrowful ways. And even those of us who hold saints in esteem tend to dehumanize them; in fact, we do often lock them away in stained glass towers, at least in our imaginations.

But the truth is that saints are full of life. They leave others with a sense of hope and wonder - with a longing to know their secret. Saints are creative. They think outside the box, and propose novel solutions to old problems. Saints are reliable. Their other-centeredness is unconditional. Perhaps above all, saints don’t wait. They understand that now is the time to serve, now is the time to love, now is the time for all on Earth to be as it is in Heaven.

So saints make their moves with whatever they’ve got. They might lack sufficient resources, feel completely unqualified, and be entirely uncertain about the future, and yet they are undeterred. Saints are the most relentless force for good the world could ever hope for. Let’s go live this Friday - and every day - with the knowledge that we belong in their number.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ