Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day, a day on which we remember all the saints who have gone before us in the faith and who now rest in the presence of the Lord. When we think of saints, we often picture extraordinary people, men and women who lived particularly holy lives, performed great works, or demonstrated exceptional faith. But today’s readings invite us to look more deeply and ask ourselves: Who are the saints, really? And what does it mean to be holy before God?
In the Gospel, Jesus proclaims blessed the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. But if we listen carefully to these words, we realize that they do not necessarily describe people whom the world considers fortunate or successful. Jesus speaks of people who suffer, who weep, who are persecuted, and who recognize that they do not have everything they need. And this confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: we are not as holy as we would like to be. How often are we proud instead of being poor in spirit? How often do we seek our own righteousness rather than hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God? How often do we respond with anger instead of mercy, or seek peace only when it costs us nothing? God’s Word shows us that we cannot stand before the Lord relying on our own goodness or merits. If holiness depended on our perfection, none of us could stand before God.
And yet, it is precisely here that the comfort of the Gospel begins. Jesus does not say that the poor in spirit must earn the kingdom of heaven, but that the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. He does not say that those who mourn must first deserve God’s comfort, but promises that they will be comforted. He does not say that those who are persecuted must prove themselves worthy of the reward, but proclaims that theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The Beatitudes are not a ladder by which we climb our way up to God, but a proclamation of the blessings that he gives us in Christ. Our hope is not found in our own holiness, but in the holiness of Jesus, who lived the perfect life that we have failed to live, carried our sins to the cross, and rose again to give us eternal life. In him, we who are poor before God receive his kingdom; we who mourn receive his comfort; and we who hunger and thirst for righteousness receive, by grace, the righteousness that comes from Christ.
The reading from Revelation allows us to see where this promise leads. John sees a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb. This multitude is not made up of people who have earned their way into heaven through their own strength or perfection. When asked who they are and where they have come from, the answer points to those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This is an extraordinary image: blood, which normally stains, here makes clean. It is the blood of Christ, shed for sinners, that washes us from all sin and makes us pure before God. This is what unites all the saints: not a sinless life, not a faith that was always strong, not works capable of earning heaven, but Christ crucified and risen, in whom they have received forgiveness and eternal life.
For this reason, All Saints’ Day is not simply a day on which we look back and remember those who have died in the faith. It is also a day on which we look forward to the promise God has made to all who belong to Christ. Revelation tells us that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, that they will hunger no more and thirst no more, and that the Lamb himself will guide them to springs of the water of life. This is the Christian hope: not that suffering does not exist, nor that death is something we can simply ignore, but that neither suffering nor death will have the final word. The final word belongs to Christ, the Lamb who was slain and who now lives and reigns forever.
The words of John in the second reading also remind us of this hope: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). Notice that John does not simply say that one day we might become children of God, but that we already are. Through Christ, God has welcomed us as his children. Our identity does not depend on how much we have managed to improve ourselves, but on the love of the Father, who has given us his Son. And John adds that what we will be has not yet been fully revealed, but that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Today, we are still marked by weakness, we struggle against sin, and we face suffering and death. But we will not remain this way forever. He who began his work of salvation in us will bring it to completion.
Dear brothers and sisters, on this day we remember the saints who have gone before us, but we do not place our trust in them, nor in our ability to imitate them perfectly. We give thanks to God for the faith he worked in them and for the testimony they have left us, while fixing our eyes on Christ, from whom every blessing comes. And let us also remember that, through Baptism and faith in Christ, this promise belongs to us as well. Not because we are already perfect, but because we belong to him who has conquered sin, death, and the devil.
Ultimately, the holiness of the saints is not the story of what human beings have done to reach God, but the story of what God has done to save sinners through Jesus Christ. And this is our hope today and for all eternity: we are children of God, we are forgiven through the blood of the Lamb, and one day we will stand before his throne, where there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more death. For our salvation is in the hands of Christ, and no one can snatch us away from him.
Amen.