Like a Botanical Garden

Last Friday was the Solemnity of All Saints and I celebrated the 1215h Mass in the Cathedral. Here is the brief homily I preached.

In one of his homilies Pope Francis asked: What is a Saint? He said: We can compare the saints to church windows that allow light to enter in but with different shades of colour. Saints are people who welcome the light of God in their heart and who pass it on to the world, each according to their own hue. He then added: But note, they were all transparent; they fought to remove the dirt and grime of sin in order to enable the gentle light of God to pass through. That is life’s purpose: to enable God’s light to pass through. It’s the purpose of our life too.

Today’s feastday gives us a glimpse of our true home: heaven. There, the communion of saints gathers around God’s throne, a huge number impossible to count of people from every nation, race, tribe, language. By our baptism, we already belong to that number; we’re already God’s children, as St. John put it in the Second Reading, although what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is that when it is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He really is. In other words, our task on earth is to become holy, to model ourselves on Jesus Christ, to be like Him and so to become worthy of heaven. Like visiting a botanical garden that’s full of many different flowers and plants, so the many different saints give us a huge variety of inspiring examples of how to do this in our lives. Moreover, they help us with their prayers.

So in this Mass, let us give glory and praise to God, thanking Him for all the saints and thanking Him for calling you and me to eternal life with Him in Paradise. Let us pray too for all our departed loved ones, whom we will especially remember at Mass tomorrow, All Souls Day. And let us pray for ourselves that as we place our hand in the helping and guiding hand of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may grow closer to Christ and so one day come with Him to the happiness of heaven. [Image: Red Funnel Ferries/Ventnor Botanic Gardens]

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