Today is All Saints Day. It is a day when we remember the saints who have gone before us. It is also a day to think about how you and I will someday be remembered.
Hopefully, we will be remembered for the goodness, kindness, compassion, and love we brought into the lives of others.
I’ve celebrated many funerals during my 57 years as a priest. I visit the wake the evening before the funeral. I talk with the immediate family and ask them to tell me about the person they loved. I want to know what made that person special so I can weave those memories into my homily the following day.
Often, family members say beautiful things. “She always thought of others before thinking of herself.” “He never had a bad word to say about anybody.” “She was so caring and considerate.” “He had a wonderful smile, a great sense of humor, and always made people feel welcome.”
But occasionally, the family has very little to say. And I find myself wondering why. Was it because the person lived a quiet life? Was it because the family had difficulty expressing their feelings? Or was it because there weren’t many happy memories to share?
We should never judge a person’s entire life by what is said at a funeral. God knows the goodness and struggles that even family members may never have seen. But those conversations have taught me something important.
Every day, you and I are writing the homily that someone will someday preach at our funeral.
I remember visiting a sick parishioner in the hospital. He had attended many funerals where I had preached over the years. As we talked, he looked at me and said, “Father, sometimes I wonder what you’re going to say about ME someday.”
I smiled. But I’ve never forgotten his question. Haven’t we all wondered about that? What will people remember about us? Will they remember our kindness or our complaints? Our generosity or our selfishness? Our willingness to forgive or our determination to hold grudges?
Will they remember how important we thought we were — or how important we made other people feel? And here is the wonderful thing about being alive today.
You and I still possess one of God’s most precious gifts: TIME. We still have time to change. Time to apologize. Time to forgive. Time to say, “I love you.” Time to become more patient, more generous, more understanding, and more compassionate.
We still have time to do something beautiful with the rest of our lives.
I once overheard a woman describing her husband’s rather unpleasant disposition. She said, “Oh, he can be so nice when he wants to be. The trouble is, he just never wants to be nice!”
There’s a little humor in that remark, but there’s also a great deal of truth. Sometimes our biggest obstacle to becoming better people isn’t that we can’t change. It’s that we don’t want to.
We become comfortable with our bad habits, our resentments, our prejudices, and our excuses.
And we tell ourselves, “That’s just the way I am.” But Jesus never said, “Stay the way you are.” He said, “Follow me.” And following Jesus means allowing Him to change us.
That’s what All Saints Day is really about. The saints weren’t perfect people who never made mistakes. Many struggled with pride, selfishness, anger, doubt, and temptation. But they allowed God’s grace to transform their lives.
Someone once remarked that God is extraordinary because He can create something out of nothing. Another person replied, “I think God does something even more wonderful. God makes saints out of sinners.” Isn’t that beautiful? And isn’t that the story of Christianity?
Oscar Wilde expressed it wonderfully: “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”
And perhaps that is why today’s Gospel gives us the Beatitudes. Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the merciful.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” “Blessed are the pure in heart.”
Notice what Jesus doesn’t say.
He doesn’t say, “Blessed are the famous.”
He doesn’t say, “Blessed are the wealthy.”
He doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who always get their own way.”
He blesses those who live with mercy, humility, compassion, and love.
And that means sainthood isn’t reserved for people whose pictures appear on holy cards or whose statues stand in churches. There are saints among us right now.
The husband who patiently cares for his wife with Alzheimer’s.
The mother who sacrifices so much for her children.
The neighbor who quietly brings groceries to someone who can no longer shop.
The person who forgives someone who has caused terrible hurt.
The lonely individual who still finds a way to bring joy into someone else’s life.
Holiness is not always found in extraordinary deeds. Often, it is found in ordinary acts of extraordinary love.
Someday, someone may stand in a church and speak about you or me. And perhaps the greatest compliment anyone could give us would be something very simple: “He was a good man.” “She was a good woman.” “People were better off because that person was part of their lives.” Wouldn’t that be a beautiful legacy?
So on this All Saints Day, don’t simply admire the saints who have gone before us.
Decide to become one.
Not tomorrow.
Not when life becomes easier.
Not when you have more time.
Begin today.
Remember: The most important thing about your funeral homily isn’t what the priest will say about you. It’s what your life will have already said about you.
AS A WELL-SPENT DAY BRINGS HAPPY SLEEP, SO A WELL-LIVED LIFE BRINGS A HAPPY DEATH INTO THE ARMS OF JESUS!
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