All Saints 2021

I have daddy issues. I suppose that’s to be expected. When your father dies when you’re still a boy you think of him as the image and not the person, the hero and not the human. I have slowly come to imagine my father as a person like me - with fears and doubts, successes and failures – and it has not taken away the person I adored. It has only brought him closer and made my admiration shine brighter.

I think of him on All Saints Day, just as I think of countless others who have inspired me spiritually. Some of the saints I think about I’ve never known, the heroes of faith whose lives have reached across centuries and stirred my soul. Others I’ve known, and they’ve inspired me as well. Unfortunately, the word “saint” has always caused me to stumble because it’s a word laced with echoes of perfection or flawlessness. Today, I try to see beyond such distorted theological thinking and celebrate the communion of saints who from their labors rest . . . the ones who, like you and me, had strengths and weaknesses, things of which they were proud and things ashamed. What I celebrate today is the way God’s light shone through their imperfections and made their lives radiant.

Recently, I was sitting in a chapel next to my son looking up at the glorious stained glass windows high above. He pointed to one he particularly liked, the one he helped design. I was drawn not to the window but to the blurry colors smeared on the wall across from the window. Like the window itself, the colors were beautiful. With the help of the afternoon light, colors painted the grey walls. The image was blurred, but the colors still stirred my soul.

I think celebrating that is what All Saints’ Day is all about. 

Here’s an added bonus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ4fK7PGhWo

“I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me: Blessed
Blessed
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord
For they rest. For they rest. For they rest
From their labours

For they rest from their labours
For they rest from their labours
For they rest from their labours
For they rest from their labours

Even so saith the Spirit
Even so saith the Spirit
For they rest. For they rеst. For they rest

Lux aetеrna, luceat eis
Domine. Domine
Lux aeterna, luceat eis
Cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis”