Sanctify the Ordinary

Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints
1 November 2015

       Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to witness and officiate over the marriage of my sister and brother-in-law. During that homily, I reminded the couple of something that seems commonplace, but is a piece of Christian living that seems to be often overlooked. And this is something that we need to be more aware of, especially as we celebrate this feast of All Saints.

       We often hold the saints of the Church – or any person of historic significance – on pedestals, believing that we could never be as heroic – or holy – as they were. What we often forget is that the saints were ordinary men and women, just like we are, and they had to struggle and strive for holiness, too. The Christian life, as I reminded the newlyweds and all those gathered, is to find a way to sanctify the ordinary – we must be able to make holy all that is in our lives. As Edward Hays reminds us: The challenge of the saints of the Twenty-First Century is to begin again to comprehend the sacred in the ten thousand things of our world; to reverence what we have come to view as ordinary and devoid of spirit.

       The Beatitudes which we heard in our Gospel is the guide by which we sanctify the ordinary. As we allow ourselves to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, to be peacemakers, to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness, we begin to sanctify our lives so that we become more like Christ. As we live out the Beatitudes in our own lives, then we become more like those countless men and women who we honor today.

       Saint Francis of Assisi once said: Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify the world. To become a saint is to first recognize that as people of the Beatitudes, we are given the opportunity to become more like Christ, for the Beatitudes are a portrait of Christ, Himself. Jesus Christ came to the world to sanctify the world. He left us His teachings in the Scriptures and the Sacraments and other means of the Church to pursue the call to holiness. The more we sanctify ourselves, the more we become like Christ. The more we become like Christ, the more we can sanctify the world. The more that we sanctify the world, the more we can reverence those ten thousand things of the world that we have come to view as ordinary or devoid of spirit.

       Whether we are married or single, a member of a religious community or a priest or deacon, each person is called to holiness, to sanctity; each person is called to become more like Christ and called to be the living image of Christ. How do we begin? We learn Jesus, love Jesus and live Jesus. How do we live this image out? We become men and women of the Beatitudes. What do the Beatitudes call us to do? They call us to sanctify ourselves so that we may sanctify the world.

       In our celebration and reception of the Eucharist, this Living Reminder of the very Presence of Christ, Himself, we open ourselves to be transformed into His Beatitudinal likeness – we allow ourselves to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, to be peacemakers, to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Our celebration and reception of the Eucharist engages us to endeavor in the sanctification of our very selves and of the world. The Eucharist – which fueled the souls and lives of the saints – is that foretaste of the glory that the saints now share in, and should be, for us, the foretaste of the glory that we seek. However, it is our choice to be people of the Eucharist, people of the Beatitudes – and it is our choice whether or not to become saints.

       Let us recall the words of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all. We are all called to be saints. We all have the vocation to pursue holiness. Yet we all have the obligation to transform and sanctify the ordinary things and events of our lives, so that the entirety of our lives and of the world reflects the glory of God. This is what the saints tried to do throughout the course of their lives on Earth.

       The saints were not perfect men and women who walked around with glowing halos around their heads and quoted Scripture constantly. Rather, these were people like you and me who are trying to live life to the best of our abilities. The only difference that we have with the saints is that they are laboring in Heaven while we are laboring here on Earth. Nevertheless, Christ calls us – as He has called many men and women throughout the ages – to struggle and strive to the best of our ability to live out the Beatitudes.

Yes, throughout our lives there will be times where we will be called to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, to be peacemakers, and to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. But through all of that, we work on our ultimate vocation to sanctify those things and events in our lives that may seem ordinary but, through the grace of God, lead us to that which is eternally extraordinary.

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Enjoy the journey . . .