WE ARE BORN SINNERS TO DIE SAINTS

 

Reflection for the Solemnity of All Saints

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke

Bible Readings: Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-14, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12a

Right from the 8^th century, every first day of November offers us the chance to celebrate the members of the Church Triumphant- the men and women in heaven. The celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints presents us with two basic options. The first option is a firm reassurance that as pilgrims in this world, we have a home prepared for us after our life here on earth and that we have myriad of saints interceding for us. The second option is more of a challenge and summons to live a life of holiness while here on earth so as to merit a place in the company of the saints when our time here is ended. However, unlike in the early beginnings of Christianity, living the Christian faith (a life of holiness) in our present time has become something very difficult if not impossible to achieve. This is in large part due to two major factors. One is the fact that every facet of our society has been polluted, defiled and contaminated by sin. The second factor is what Fr. Kentenich, the founder of our Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt described as the fracturing of the modern man in both his thinking and living. In fact, to live in the world in our time has become synonymous with living a sinful life.

To begin with, a few clarifications are in order especially with regard to what sainthood is not. First, sainthood is not an exclusive privilege for a particular state in life but a universal vocation embracing all baptized Christians. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council stressed so much on this point (Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, chapter 5). Second, the saints were not super humans but ordinary sinners like you and I who struggled with their own imperfections and weaknesses. For instance, we have saints like Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa of Calculta, Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi and now Blessed Carlo Acutis, who lived in our time and whose lives we experienced. Third, we all came into the world with that stain of Original Sin and so, nobody was born a saint. We become saints. Sainthood therefore is a process. In other words, we too have what it takes to be a saint. However, becoming a saint is not simply the work of man but a gift of grace. It is the ability to collaborate with the grace of God. That is why when we celebrate the saints, we celebrate the triumph of God’s grace in their lives.

Furthermore, sainthood does not consist in doing extra-ordinary things but in doing ordinary things in an extra-ordinary way out of total love for God. Every age comes with its own challenges, trials and ills. Our own time too is replete with so many ills that make holiness even impossible to conceive. Yet, sainthood does not consist in standing apart from the affairs of human life, the world and its concerns, but by entering into personal communion with God who is for us. Therefore, to be a saint in our world of today, we must dare to be more and to do more (sacrifice). We must dare to be different and to make a difference. Sainthood always requires a certain stroke of radicalism. To be a saint in our world today means to stand out even if it means standing alone. In our respective states in life, we must strive not to follow the rest especially when they are moving in the wrong direction. Nigeria needs saints, men and women who are different from the rest of us and who want to do more for our country; men and women who will change our already corrupt system instead of allowing the system to change and corrupt them.

The need to make holiness an inclusive vocation was one of the motivating factors towards forming the Schoenstatt Movement. The Schoenstatt Movement stressed from the beginning, a way to holiness that respects the unique vocation of each walk of life and is accessible to all. This is closely related to Schoenstatt’s accent on being secular or “in the world;” to be a leaven in the society.  Schoenstatt spirituality therefore offers us so many guidelines to living a life of sanctity. One thing worth pointing out is that in Schoenstatt, we understand holiness as an everyday task. Holiness is not occasional or seasonal.  Also, in whatever vocation we find ourselves (priestly state, religious life, married life, and single life) or in our field of work (as a doctor, teacher, politician, lawyer, business man/woman, engineer, pastor etc.), therein lies the means for our sanctification; our path to holiness. How we live our life-vocations and how we do our work matter a lot in the journey towards holiness. That is why Jesus gave us the Beatitudes (which were read in the gospel reading of today) for our guide (Matt. 5:1-12a). We have to seek to turn the things of the world into windows to the divine and opportunities to discover God, seeing this as one of the keys to the survival of the faith in our modern times. 

Finally, the call to holiness described in the Church is not simply a suggestion or something ornamental but a constitutive part of our Christian vocation. In spite of the many attractions and distractions in the world today, becoming a saint is still a possibility. In our journey toward becoming saints, Fr. Kentenich warned that we should avoid every form of thinking and living that tend to make us believe that the kind of Christian life we are called to live and our God-given work are incompatible with holiness. This happens when we fail to integrate grace and nature, God with the world, head and heart, faith and life. There is no “higher calling” in the race to sainthood. In our different states in life, we can achieve sanctity not by doing the extra-ordinary but by doing the little we are called to do out of total love for God.

May the saints intercede for us. Amen