A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, November 6, 2011.
“SAINTS”
Are you a saint?
Do you know
any living saints?
What is a
saint, anyway?
Today is
All Saints’ Sunday. It is the only feast
in the Church Year which may be moved from the day on which it falls during the
week (always November 1st) to the following Sunday. Last week, All Saints’ Day came on November 1st,
and it was followed by All Souls’ Day (November 2nd).
So, this is
the season for remembering with thanks the saints of God, the major ones and
the lesser-known ones, on All Saints’ Day.
It is also the season for remembering those saints who have now passed
from this life into eternal life with God, on All Souls’ Day.
This homily
will be a brief study in sainthood. We
would do well, then, to begin with a definition of the word “saint”:
1.
Any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, formally
recognized as such by the Christian Church, esp. by canonization. 2. A
person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence. 3. A
founder, sponsor, or patron, as of a movement or organization. 4. In
certain religious groups, a designation applied to themselves. 5. To
enroll formally among the saints recognized by the Church. 6. To
give the name of saint, to reckon as a saint.[1]
Of course, if we look carefully, we can see that the word “saint” comes to us from Latin. In fact, the same root word comes to us in its original Latin form as Sanctus in our liturgy, meaning “holy”. The meaning of the word “saint” conveys that same sense of holiness, as we can see in the definition provided above.
With a good
definition of the word in hand, let’s turn now to some reflections on saints
and sainthood.
The first
observation we might make is that saints become saints because of the process
of being saved, or salvation. This is a
three-step process, which unfolds this way:
1. Justification: When we come to God in faith, and enter the
waters of baptism, the stain of the sin that we were born with (called
“original sin”) is washed away in the waters of baptism. In God’s sight, we become sinless, for
Christ’s death atones for our sins, and makes it possible for us to be in an
intimate and right relationship with God.
The word “justification” carries with it a legal sense in which the
penalty for our wrongdoings is paid by Christ’s death.
Being
justified in God’s sight allows the process of sainthood to begin.
2. Sanctification: (Notice that the word “sanctification” has
the word that Latin word Sanctus contained
within it.) Once we are in a right
relationship with God, having come to Him in faith, having entered the waters
of baptism, we can now begin a walk with God, one day at a time. Gradually, by the power of the Holy Spirit
which is given and received at baptism, we begin to take on more and more
Christ-like virtues. Our old, sinful
nature begins to fade away, and our new, Christ-like nature grows in
prominence.
As
we grow in holiness of life, sainthood becomes more and more noticeable.
3. Glorification: When our earthly life is over, we enter into
God’s promises and into God’s presence.
We are provided with a glorified body (St. Paul attempts to describe
this wonderful new existence in chapter fifteen of his first letter to the
Corinthians). The cloak of sin which had
so closely clung to us throughout our earthly life is finally and completely cast
aside.
Once
our earthly life is over, sainthood often becomes very easy to see.
The next
observation we ought to make is that the Church is in the business of being a
saint-making factory. Not only does the
Church encourage those within to enter the waters of baptism, but it also
encourages those who are now members of the Body of Christ to begin the process
of sanctification outlined above.
Holiness of life, holiness in speech and in deeds is the goal of every
mature Christian, so that the light of Christ might shine brightly in this
otherwise-darkened and lost world. As a
saint-making factory, we observe each other as we walk the Christian walk, and
we encourage one another by our actions and with our words to become
Christ-like, slowly by surely, over time.
We see God at work in each other’s lives, so that we can see God at work
in similar ways in our own lives. Yes,
the Church is a sort of spiritual laboratory.
Let’s
return to the matter of sanctification as we make this next observation about
saints and sainthood: Being saintly
isn’t a matter of being sin-free. Far
from it. Even St. Paul, writing in
Romans, chapter seven, laments his own sinfulness, and the tendency that he has
to commit sin. “Wretched man that I am,”
he says in desperation. No, a saint
isn’t one who never commits sin, or even contemplates doing so. A saint is a person who has entered into a
covenant with God through baptism, has become a righteous person in God’s sight
as a result (see the definition of justification given above), and who now
seeks to follow God in righteousness of life, day-by-day. When sin or temptation comes along, as it
surely will, the righteous person will seek God’s forgiveness for the sin which
has been committed, and will seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit to ward off
temptation, in order to amend one’s life and to seek to live more closely with
God’s desires for holiness. When the
saintly person seeks God’s forgiveness and seeks to amend one’s life, then the
covenant of righteousness is maintained and strengthened.
The matter
of sainthood involves a struggle against the “default position” of the human
condition. As a person struggles to
overcome the temptations that beset all of us, temptations to be bigoted,
judgmental, greedy, or to exploit others (for example), the victories won over
these and other sorts of sinful conditions become the markers of a saint. For example, know someone who’s conquered an
addiction that is ruining their lives?
With the help of God, they just might be a saint!
Oftentimes,
saints can’t keep their sainthood a secret, as much as they might try, for
their deeds give them away. Their words
betray the holiness of life that resides within their hearts. Saints of this quiet and unobtrusive sort are
often the most precious of all, for their modesty enhances the holy qualities of
humility that are woven throughout their lives.
Saints. Saints with a big “S’, saints with a little
“s”, all seek to come into a right relationship with God through the redeeming
power of Jesus Christ. Saints seek to
follow Christ, loving God, loving their neighbors, and loving themselves,
too. And once this life is done, they
enter into the glory which has been prepared for them, where the holiness of
God that His saints have searched for throughout this life is seen,
face-to-face.
May God be
praised for these, His saints, in times past and the present time.
