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I realize a lot of you will not be able to be at Mass tomorrow on the
Feast of All Saints, so I thought I would share a reflection of All Saints
with you.
Phyllis McGinley is a modern American poet. She wrote a book
called Saint Watching. In it she says:
“When I was seven years old, I wanted to be a tight-rope dancer
and broke my collarbone practicing on a child’s-size high wire. At
twelve, I planned to become an international spy. At fifteen, my
ambition was the stage. Now in my sensible declining years, I would
give anything…..to be a saint.”
As we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we are reminded that every
one of us—without exception—is called to be a saint. Not one of us in
this church today is called to be anything less than a saint.
This poses a knotty question: What is the best way to become a
saint in 2023?
Is it to do what St. Anthony did in the fourth century: turn our
backs on the pleasures of this world and live apart from society?
Is it to do what St. Francis did in the thirteenth century: turn our
backs on material wealth and preach the Gospel wherever we can find a
crowd and a soapbox?
Or is it to do something like St. Elizabeth Seton did in the
nineteenth century: raise a family and spend the rest of our lives working
with societies sick and needy?
The answer to these questions is no. And the reason that its no is
obvious.
You don’t become a saint by doing what God made somebody else
to do. You become a saint by doing what God made you do.
Practically speaking, this means that if you are a parent at this
moment in your life, that’s exactly the way God intends you to become a
saint: by being the best parent you can be – not perfect – just the best.
And, practically speaking, if you are a student at this moment in
your life, that’s exactly the way God intends you to become a saint: by
being the best student you can be.
Or, if you are an elderly couple or single person at this moment in
your life, that’s exactly the way God intends you to become a saint: by
being the best elderly couple or best single person you can be.
Let me illustrate what I mean with an example. Some years ago,
an elderly couple lived on a large corner lot near an elementary school.
The children from the school had the habit of cutting across the corner of
their lawn, wearing an ugly path through it. At first this merely annoyed
the couple, but after a while it angered them. The couple realized that
something had to be done. The situation was poisoning their attitude
toward the children and destroying their peace of mind. The couple hit
upon a solution. First they put crushed gravel on the path. Then they
lined it with flowers. After that they set a bench along the path. On
afternoons when school let out, the couple sat on the bench and greeted
the children as they passed by.
The response of the children was amazing. They stopped and
thanked the couple for the path. They even asked the names of the
flowers and sometimes, sat down to talk to the couple. In short, the
couple turned an unhappy situation into a happy one.
That charming little story is also a beautiful illustration of what

Jesus meant in today’s gospel when he said, “Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” It means to turn a
potentially angry situation into a delightfully happy one.
And that leads us to our final point.
If you are still in doubt about what it means to be a saint in today’s
world, reread the Beatitudes in today’s gospel. The Beatitudes spell out
in simple terms the guidelines that we should use to live our lives. And
if we live out these guidelines, as the elderly couple did, Jesus will
someday say to us what he said to the people of his time in the Sermon
on the Mount:
“Blessed are you, the kingdom of God is yours!”