Faith & Identity

Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened,

and I will give you rest, says the Lord. ( Matthew 11:28)

In the Church’s calendar, 1 November is All Saints' Day. On this day, and throughout November, we turn our attention to those who have lived lives of extraordinary faith and dedication to God. And we think not only of the ‘canonised’ saints, but of all those we know who have played a significant role in giving our lives meaning and value. When we follow their example, we are led into the life of holiness that offers a joy that knows no end.

Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be.

– Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

This month, you are invited to take the time to share the stories of those who have inspired you. Indeed, I encourage everyone to make the time, perhaps stopping to enjoy tea or coffee, to share the inspiring lives of those who enrich our heritage. 

We need to share our stories and learn from the wisdom of those who have given us so much and still guide us to meet the challenges of the week. In this month of November, let us be saints to one another and share our hard-won wisdom, for that will surely build us up.

Fr Richard Leonard SJ has previously led our staff on our formation days. I share with you part of his homily for All Saints' Day.

All Saints' Day has its roots in the early Church’s ‘Martyrs Day’, attested to by a hymn written in 359 by St Ephraim. It was called All Saints Day in the seventh century.

A Saint is someone who the Church believes is in heaven with God. Wrongly, we often think saints are perfect, but in fact their greatest witness is how they coped with the ordinary difficulties of life and how they reflected in a variety of ways the love of God.

For most of us sanctity and martyrdom will not come in dramatic ways. The daily routine of looking after a sick child, spouse or parent, of living with a mental, physical, emotional or spiritual illness, the scourge of being unemployed, homeless or addicted and the feeling that we are unlovable brings with it the reality of sharing in the lot of the martyrs and saints.

All Saints' Day is the feast which commemorates all those we know who may never be publicly proclaimed in the canon or list of saints, but who nonetheless are in heaven. Some of them may only be known to God. Others are people whose love, sacrifice and fidelity we have seen for ourselves and who have inspired us. Sometimes they can be our own mothers and fathers.

These, too, we believe belong to the great multitude of witnesses who went through their own persecutions and found the blessings within their daily lives. They saw God in this world and are now fully alive to him in the next.

In this Mass may we have the grace to live a holy life that, in ordinary ways, demonstrates the extraordinary power of God working in us. In doing so, in our sacrifices, forgiveness and love may we remain faithful to the women and men who are our saintly heroes and pray that we remain faithful to the Gospel of Christ as they did.

‘We will be true to Thee ’till death.

We will be true to Thee ’till death.’