HOMILY FOR ALL SAINTS DAY

The feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls are days on which we pay special attention to those sections of the Church other than the Church militant here on earth. For many Anglicans the Church on earth IS the Church, yet all three sections, the Church Triumphant, the Church expectant and the Church Militant are part of the same Church whose members are in Communion with each other because they are united in Christ.

We are all called to be saints but in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that it is the pure in heart who shall see God. These are they whom we call the Saints of God and we give them a capital ‘S’ because we believe that through the work of the Holy Spirit they have been made holy. They have been sanctified. Some of them we know, and the Church continues to identify those we believe are Saints, but most of the Saints we do not know. They are known only to God Himself.

If we really believe in the words of Scripture we must believe in the Communion of Saints because Jesus said that God is God of the living and not the dead. So the Saints are living. They are not simply dead heroes and heroines whose lives give us inspiration. They are living members of Christ’s body the Church as much as we are by virtue of our baptism.

We celebrate today, and the saints whose special days are observed in our calendar by celebrating Holy Communion – there is that word again! We celebrate our common unity with them in Christ. They may be wholly sanctified and in God’s nearer presence, but they are living persons. They are our brothers and sisters, so why do some Christians have a problem with the idea that they are able to pray for us as we try to become holy as they are. Why should we not ask them to pray for us as we ask each other on earth to pray for us?

Once we get our heads around the idea that the saints are living brothers and sisters in Christ, we can really start believing in the Communion of Saints.

Look at the way some Christians treat Our Lady. Mention the Blessed Virgin Mary in some Christian circles and you would think you were extolling the virtues of Satan himself. Yet these same people describe their deceased mother as ‘my mother’. They don’t describe her as ‘the one who was my mother.’ So the Blessed Virgin is still the Mother of Jesus and because the faithful are united in Christ, she is the mother of all the faithful. She is the Mother of the Church his body just as much as she is the mother of Jesus himself. Once a loving relationship is formed it is never destroyed. Jesus loves his mother. He listened to her when he was on earth, why should he not listen to her now if we ask her to pray for us?

Just because some people have made exaggerated statements about Our Lady, we must not talk of her as a dead Roman Catholic who wore a blue veil! Anglicans have always honoured her as we have honoured the apostles and other saints. We do so because we believe in the Communion of Saints, and today we thank God for them all, known and unknown. Today as always we join our worship and prayers with them and as we receive the sacrament of Our Lord’s Body and Blood we are united with them, so in confidence we can ask them to pray for us without feeling that we are worshipping them.

For all your saints O Lord we thank you.