Solemnity of All Saints
When I was a kid, I was infatuated with sports; I loved to play sports, watch sports, and learn about professional athletes of different sports. I collected trading cards of professional athletes. I sorted them, memorized the stats, and studied the fun facts about each player. My parents purchased us a subscription to Sports Illustrated for Kids; I would read the magazine cover to cover every month, soaking in all of the stories and details from the world of sports. The magazine usually came with a small poster of a popular athlete, many of which I would then hang on the wall of my bedroom. I would search the local library for biographies about professional athletes. I wanted to read the stories of their life and rise to fame and success. I immersed myself in the lives of my favorite players, even to the extent that I dreamed of becoming a professional football player one day (despite my scrawny physical stature and average athletic skills). I wanted to be like Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, or Curtis Martin. They were some of the superstars of the sports world.
The saints are the superstars of the church. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to immerse myself in the lives of many saints. Many authors and organizations like Word on Fire and Dynamic Catholic have produced material for us to learn about the saints. You can even find saint trading cards (no joke...a quick google search will reveal several options)! We can read about their lives, faith, love, and holiness. Much like Jesus, the saints are radical, counter-cultural, holy men and women setting forth a model of faith to be imitated. They show us radical ways to love others, to be in the world but not consumed by the world. However, the significant difference between the saints and many professional athletes is that they aren’t seeking fame and fortune. They seek to praise and worship God; to have sinless hands, clean hearts, and no desire toward vanity (PS 24:4). Likewise, while physical stature and shortcomings in athletic ability may keep many of us from greatness in the world of sports, we are all capable of holiness, despite what the world may want us to believe.
I recently read an excerpt from an address given by Cardinal Thomas C. Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, in which he shared thoughts on what we can learn from the life and teachings of one of the church’s newest saints, Cardinal John Henry Newman. Newman, an Anglican professor at the University of Oxford converted to Catholicism in a society and age when being Catholic was not only unpopular, but subjected one to ridicule, harassment, and persecution. Cardinal Collins tells us, however, that Newman did not become Catholic because it was popular nor did he remain Catholic because of “the goodness or the intelligence or the integrity of fellow Catholics” (corruption and incompetence were easy to find in the Catholic Church). No, Saint John Henry Newman was Catholic because of “the courage of his conviction” in the truth of the church of Jesus. He teaches us that “the substance of Christian faith and life comes from the Gospel, not from any earthly society...we depend on upon Jesus Christ, and the Church which he established, in which he comes to us in word and sacrament, and the faith which it professes.” The life of Saint John Henry Newman teaches us to seek out a deeper relationship with God, so that “we serve the Holy Spirit, not the spirit of the age.”
Let us celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints, the church’s role models; blessed “servants of our God” (RV 7:3); “the people that longs to see his face” (PS 24). Role models tend to be those looked to by others as an example to follow; one whose actions, behavior, and--in our case with the saints--faithful witness can be emulated. And, even more appropriately, our role models in the Church show us how to Think like Jesus, Talk like Jesus, and Act like Jesus. With the communion of saints, may we continue to strive toward holiness.
Abundant Blessings,
Brandon Meyer