The Regional Directors continue their reflections.

All Saints Day is an opportunity for us to celebrate all those women and men who gave their lives to God to serve their brothers and sisters. They include the great saints that we all know like the first Deacons of the Church, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Therese of Lisieux. Most especially, today is a time to celebrate the saints we may never have heard of. They are the mothers and fathers who sacrificed to pass on their faith to their children. They are the catechists who gave up their Sundays to teach others about Jesus. They are the many unknown monks who dedicated their lives to making copies of the Bible before the printing press so that it could be available to as many people as possible. And the many thousands over the centuries who are known only to God. So, when we call today the feast of ALL SAINTS, we mean just that - not only the saints who have churches dedicated to them but the women and men who have never been officially recognized as saints but who nonetheless deserve that title. These are the ones who reveal the Church’s dirty little secret – No one is in heaven who is not a saint.

This day also causes us to reflect on our part in the transmission of the faith as well as the call for us to be saints. It would be nice if our ordination came with a “Go to Heaven Free” card. Unfortunately, it did not. Sometimes when I get to feeling overwhelmed and I ruminate on my unworthiness for the responsibilities I have taken on, the mistakes I’ve made or the times I just could not find a way to be helpful, the words of scripture become a foreboding warning.  “To whom much is given, much will be expected.” It is natural for us to believe that becoming a saint is impossible. In fact, the truth is that we cannot become saints on our own. We won’t get to Heaven simply by our own will power and discipline. We need God to transform us.

The way God transforms us and makes us into saints is through love. Blessed Fulton Sheen, a bishop who is on his way to being recognized as a saint, said: “The consoling thought throughout this whole transforming process is that it does not require much time to make us saints: it requires only much love.” Love is the key to becoming a saint. If we put love into everything we do - from the most menial tasks to the most heroic - we will become saints. Blessed Fulton Sheen reminds us that out of all the jobs that deacons are expected to do, our primary and only real expectation is to love, and to love as Christ loves us.

In today’s gospel, Jesus lays out for us a roadmap to sainthood. If we follow that plan, we will not only be transformed but we will change the world. The curious thing about these Beatitudes is that love is never mentioned. However, Jesus’ commandment to love sheds light on their meaning and can teach us how to live each one of them in a complete and meaningful way. Each of these beatitudes that Jesus presents requires love; great love for God to rely on him to provide; love so as not to turn a blind eye to those in who suffer; love so that we forget ourselves in serving others; a love of God so intense that our sole desire is to please God.  This is the life that we have been ordained to live.  It is not easy; it can be overwhelming at times. We do not live this life alone. We live it with the love and help of each other, with the support of our families, with the people we serve, and most importantly we live it with and for the love of God.

We are called to be deacons and saints. Living our lives in the beatitudes with great love is the way we get there. In the process, we will be transformed and our world renewed, and the benefits, are out of this world. 

Deacon David Luksch - St. Stephen Regional Director

In Christ the Servant + Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Receive + Believe + Teach + Practice