Called to Holiness

Homily: Solemnity of All Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

1 November 2021

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

Today is All Saints’ Day. It is a day for all the saints. But how does one become a saint? Who are those qualified to be a saint? 

We often think of sainthood as something that is beyond our grasp. We imagine saints to be those who have done everything right. They are very much unlike us who often falter and make a lot of mistakes, rendering the possibility of becoming like them highly unlikely. Di ba kadalasan ang katwiran natin kapag naubusan na tayo ng pasensya – “Hindi ako santo, no?”

However, the more we learn about them, the more we realize that they are no different from us. They, too were far from being perfect nor without sin.  They were fully human like you and me.  

Tama totoong tao sila – maraming kahinaan, maraming sablay, maraming pagkakamaling nagawa katulad natin. So kung parehas lang pala sila sa atin – e bakit sila kakaiba?

One thing… They have never forgotten who God is for them. They drew strength from God to persevere despite their trials. Sa gitna ng matinding pagsubok at pahirap na pinagdaaanan – kahalintulad sa mga pagsubok at mga paghihirap na atin ding kinakaharap sa ating mga buhay –  naging matatag ang kanilang pananalig na nandiyan ang Diyos  at hindi sila kailanman pababayaan.  Dito sila humugot ng lakas.

Brothers and sisters, these saints drew strength from God to persevere despite their trials.  Through it all, they remained steadfast and so “survived the time of great distress” (Revelation 7:14). Today as we remember all of these holy men and women, we celebrate their lives as examples of holiness and models for our imitation.

“While the church recognizes through the processes of beatification and canonization “exemplary imitations of Christ,” Pope Francis urges believers “to be spurred on (incited and encouraged) by the signs of holiness that the Lord shows through the humblest members of God’s people.” The Holy Father refers to them as “the saints next-door.” (Gaudete et Exsultate #8)

If you have noticed those beatified and canonized these days are mostly lay people, and quite a good number of them are young people. Aside from the millennial Blessed Carlo Acutis, another 22-year-old woman medical student, Sandra Sabattini was recently beatified for devoting her (short) life to helping the poor and disabled before she was killed by a passing car in 1984. She wrote three days before the accident: “It’s not mine, this life that is developing, that is beating by a regular breath that is not mine, that is enlivened by a peaceful day that is not mine. There is nothing in this world that is yours. Realize, Sandra! It is all a gift on which the ‘Giver’ can intervene when and how he wants. Take care of the gift given to you, make it more beautiful and fuller…”

Holiness is within reach. Ang kabanalan ay abot-kamay. Holiness is not beyond our grasp. Sa ating binyag, tayo ay naging mga santo na, bilang mga anak ng Diyos. So, says St. John, “We are God’s children now.” (1 John 3:2) The very nature of our Christianity challenges us to live our life in a way that embodies our identity as God’s children. Each one of us is called to holiness. That is why if we look around us, we come to realise that we are surrounded by what the Letter to the Hebrews refers to as a great “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).

Lahat tayo ay inaanyayahang maging banal, maging santo, maging tunay na anak ng Diyos. The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium states that “all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium Chapter V #40). We are all invited to live up to our destiny as children of God. We are all “called to be saints”. (1 Cor 1:2)

Today’s celebration of All Saints’ Day is a challenge for us to be “imitators” of all these holy men and women renowned as saints in heaven. May we be numbered among God’s holy ones forever praising and thanking the good Lord as citizens of the eternal homeland!