When
I was in high school, it was a requirement to take an art class each semester.
For me and my classmates, these classes were a welcome part of the week, mainly
because of the kind priest who taught them. But, truth be told, art class was
not one of my strong subjects. No matter what we were working on at the time,
whether that be painting, sketching, sculpting or drawing,
I struggled to transfer what was in my mind to an intelligible image on paper,
clay or canvas. For example, when I showed my self-portrait to the family, they
asked, “who is that?” When my
parents asked the priest teaching the art class how I was doing, he said with a
smile: “Kevin is nice but he is not very good.” In the end, my art was used by
the family to cheer them up when things got rough at home. When any of them
were in a bad mood they would pull out my paintings and sketches and howl with
laughter. My family still does this from time to time.
Despite my failure as an artist, I learned a great deal about the many elements
that go into making something truly beautiful and artistic. For example, the
painter must use a variety of brushes to achieve different effects, shadows,
and textures. The sculptor must use various chisels and hammers to carve an
image from a block of stone or wood. The draftsman utilizes an assortment of
rulers, pencils and crayons to ensure he gets the right contrast, shade, and
scale in his drawing. In these, and in most of the art forms, the artist must
use many instruments in order to create a masterpiece.
How
does this connect with today's celebration of All Saints’ Day? Throughout the
ages, God has often been described as a Divine Artist. Similar to what we see
in human artists, God uses many different instruments as he creates the
tapestry of salvation history. And because he is supremely creative, our God
paints a picture that includes every
imaginable color, texture, and style. In the lives of the saints, we see
the infinite beauty of God, demonstrated by their faith and good works. In
the lives of these holy men and women, the Lord’s transcendent qualities are
displayed for the whole world to see and they shine like beautiful
masterpieces. Allow me to list a few and notice the rich diversity:
There have been incredibly smart saints like Thomas Aquinas and simple saints like John Vianney, reclusive saints like Anthony of the Desert
and extroverted saints like Vincent de Paul. Some of them were eloquent
speakers like St. John Chrystosom
while others spoke plainly like St.
Gerard Majella. Then there are penitent ones like St. Rose of Lima, exuberant ones like Hildegard of Bingen and quirky saints like St. John Bosco. As if this wasn’t enough, there are also humorous
holy ones like St. Lawrence, serious ones like St. Bruno,
impulsive saints like the apostle Peter, and great teachers like Albert
the Great. Some saints lived very sinful and scandalous lives before their
conversion, like Augustine while
others maintained their innocence for their entire life, like St. Dominic Savio. There have even been
cranky saints like Jerome and sweet
ones like Therese of Lisieux.
I could give more examples,
but you get the idea; so many saints, so
many different gifts and personalities. No single one of them contains all
of the beauty of God, rather, each of them shows us a different
perspective and quality of the God who made us and loves us. On All Saints’
Day, we celebrate the countless men and women who have gone before us marked
with the sign of faith. We celebrate their many different gifts because they
each show us a little bit about the Goodness, Truth, and Beauty of our God. The
saints are like a prism. All of them receive the same light, which is
Christ, but each of them radiates a different hue, each shining brilliantly in
his or her own way.
The temptation for us present-day Christians
is to look at the lives of the saints and treat them as admirable but irrelevant
to us. Nothing could be further from the truth!! Because of the rich diversity
of the saints, each of us can find a saint who shares our temperament, our gifts,
our circumstances, and even our weaknesses. No matter how unique you
are, no matter how strange your circumstances might be, there is a saint
who has been there and done that. Which is a great thing!! All Saints Day should
encourage us because we are not alone as we walk through the trials of this
life. There are people who have suffered some of the same difficulties, and
have managed to get to heaven by the grace of God. These saints are waiting to
help us as we make our way through this world to return to the Promised Land of
Heaven.
There are many people in our time who
have forgotten about the saints. Perhaps they see this devotion as
old-fashioned, superstitious, or irrelevant. But the saints teach us about
God's plan for us in life. God is calling each and every one of you here in
Church today to be a saint. And He is going to call you to sainthood by asking
you to be faithful to the call you have received. Most of you will not end up
in monasteries or seminaries studying to be priests or religious brothers and
sisters. No, Moms and Dads, you will
be sanctified by caring for your children, feeding them, teaching them their
abc's and the Catholic faith. You will be made holy by loving your spouse and
providing for your family in the best way possible. Children, you will be training to be saints by helping your
parents, being obedient to them, even when you don't feel like it, and by being
a good example to your siblings and friends. Students, you will find holiness by applying yourselves
whole-heartedly to your studies, whether it be in high-school, college, or
graduate work. Professionals, young
and old; you will glorify God and become holy by offering your work to the Lord
and doing it in a way that is fair, honest, and kind. To do this, we need the
help of the saints, who found holiness and happiness by doing the exact same
thing.
Because God never changes, he is still
the artist who is looking to create a masterpiece with the lives of his
faithful. He is a restless artist who knows his work is not complete.
God wants more saints! He
wants our lives to shine forth in that Divine Tapestry that he continues
to weave. God will use our strengths and our weakness, our extraordinary talents and the ordinary
circumstances of our daily life. Let us call upon the saints to help us be
faithful instruments in God's hands and run to them for encouragement when
times are tough. On this feast day, let us ask ourselves, "do I want to be
in that number, when the saints go marching in?"
