All Saints Day

Today we had Mass to mark the solemnity of All Saints Day.  Father Charles Pawlowski, the parochial vicar of Saint Elizabeth Seton Parish in Bedford, was our celebrant.  He gave a nice homily explaining the reasons behind this feast and spoke briefly about some of the great saints in history, namely Saint Augustine and Saint Therese of Liseux.

We began a new custom today of having one of the readings read by a student or staff member whose native tongue is something other than English.  Today Mrs. Gomez of our Language department read the second reading in Spanish (there was the English translation in the program).

After communion I offered the following reflection:

I read this quote on Facebook the other day: “The saints are fascinating not because they are more gifted, but because they are fearless in using their gifts.”

All the saints - those we know and those known only to God - were regular human beings like you and me.  They didn’t have any super powers that you and I don’t possess...they just weren’t afraid to be Christ in the world and they became saints through their work and witness.

In this gym are about 500 people who have the ability to be saints.  In some cases, perhaps we already have some saints among us or are well on their way.  There’s Mr. Sheehan who gives of himself every Wednesday night to serve the children of Hillside Middle School, there’s freshman Chase Hughes who helps run a charity called Color My World, there’s junior Emily Murphy who gives much of her free time to her parish in Nashua, there’s Father Charlie who has given up everything to serve God and His people, there’s over 100 students and adults who slept outside in the pouring rain recently to raise money and awareness of homelessness, there are students here who help take care of siblings and family members with special needs, there’s a student who begins every morning in prayer in our chapel.  The list can go on and on.

Jesus has left all of us in charge of this world until He comes again.  It’s an awesome responsibility and a great opportunity to do extraordinary things.  I know I am blessed to be surrounded day after day by people who want to be saints, who want to be Christ, who want to build up the Kingdom of God in this tiny portion of His vineyard.  As we continue our celebration of All the Saints, let us pray that God the Father might call each of us to be counted among the saints, that is as we strive to be like God the Son, all with the help and guidance of God the Holy Spirit.  Amen