Santa Clara University

Saints of God 

All Saints Day
November 11, 2007
by Paul Locatelli, S.J.

Once, I was asked what it was like to grow up in an Italian family. My response: "Growing up with a first-generation Italian father and two brothers, we made my mother a saint." And that she was!

One of the most difficult days of my life was January 24, 2003. Preparing to go to Capital Hill in Washington, DC, for some meetings, I received a call from my wonderful sister-in-law. She let me know that my Mom had died earlier that morning.

When we lose a parent or spouse or someone that we love deeply, our minds and hearts are flooded with a mingling of grief, loss, sadness, hope, wonder, and love.

On the flight home, questions kept rolling over in my mind: What do I really believe about death and resurrection? What was I going to say at her Mass? Could I say anything that made sense? Even questions like: Do I really have hope that new life begins with earthly death? Do our lives on earth really connect us with and lead to a risen life in heaven?

That last question moved me to believe and say that my mother was already in heaven. I did not need the Vatican to declare her a saint. She was by the way she lived; it was the way Jesus teaches us to live. When we live lives of virtue, we are in the kingdom of God which begins here and ends in heaven with our resurrection. The kingdom of God, beginning here and fulfilled in heaven, is where love prevails. A love among people of all faiths and religious creeds.

Jesus tell us who belongs in the kingdom – that will end with our acceptance into the communion of saints. Two stories comfort me in my belief about my mother and belief that all of us will be in heaven.

Last Sunday, Jesus told us a parable about the religious leader and the sinful tax collector, both of whom went up to the temple to pray. The religious leader let God know that he was not like the others – he told God that he was a good person who lived a clean life. He even had the arrogance to say that he was not like the sinner in the back of the temple.

The sinner – the tax collector – stood in back of the temple and prayed to God, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." He did not judge others, understood he was not perfect, and he knew that he needed God’s love and mercy to be justified.

He – not the religious leader – became the saint in the eyes of God and because he received mercy from a merciful God, he knew how to be merciful; he received forgiveness from God because he was humble, and learned to be forgiving.

Next Sunday we have Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax collector – a sinner in the eyes of many.

Zacchaeus received mercy because he was kind and compassionate; he could see Jesus as God, because he was clean of heart. He received salvation because of his clean heart and even more, because he cared about justice and helping the poor.

The many stories of Jesus – as when Jesus blessed little children, or restored Lazarus to health, or healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and healed the lepers – remind us that Jesus loved those who struggle with life and death. Jesus did not point to religious leaders to tell us who were saints. Rather he chose very ordinary people – not perfect in the eyes of the world – but who mourned the loss of loved ones and strangers; were humble in their relationship with others, knew how to love, not judge others; were merciful and generous, and were "clean of heart." Living the Beatitudes is the path to life on earth that connects us to the risen life – to becoming a saint...in this life that leads to a new life that comes with earthly death.

Our gathering, today, in prayerful humility and mercy, is a foretaste of our being called into the communion of saints in heaven. Our community extends us into the communion of saints. That is why I believe – rather, know – that my mother is already in heaven – a saint among the saints. And the same is true I am sure, for all your loved ones who have gone before you in death and know the gift of new life in heaven. And we pray the same will be true for us as we strive to live the Beatitudes and experience a foretaste of the kingdom here on earth.

May God bless us all.