This is how Catholics view God and His saints. Non-Catholic Christians often have difficulty honoring or venerating saints, because they believe that we should only worship God. This is exactly correct. And in honoring the saints we are not taking any worship away from God. If we actually find ourselves “worshipping” the saints, than we are in trouble. Don’t forget about about the 1st Commandment (Ex 20).
But to venerate the saints, to look up to them, to admire their faith, to get to know their stories, is not taking anything away from God, in fact, in honoring God’s handiwork you give Him the glory. You can see this in the photo above of John Nava’s tapestries which line the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. None of the saints stand out and says look at me. They all have their attention fixed on Jesus Christ, who gets all the glory.
Waiting in Joyful Hope
How fitting it was for me to spend some time this morning in the eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews which is essentially a walk through salvation history honoring the faithful who have walked before us. If you want a synopsis of the Bible, this is a good place to start. It introduces you briefly to some of the key players and what they teach us, from Able to Noah, Abraham to Jacob, Joseph to Moses, and more.
“All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth.”
~ Hebrews 11:13
What kept these people going? In a word: faith. Faith in what? You could say faith in God, but even more than that it was faith in His promises. They knew without a doubt, as we all should, that God’s Word is true and He is true to His Word. He doesn’t make a promise that He doesn’t intend to keep. St. Augustine summed up this dynamic when he said:
“Man is faithful when he believes in God and his promises; God is faithful when he grants to man what he has promised.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
Our hope, our faith is in God and His promises. He is so gracious, so generous, so giving to we who are so undeserving. Yet, nevertheless, He is faithful. Noah was promised life, Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars, Moses the freedom of his people. They all trusted in the promise God made to them. For some it took longer than others, but God came through. That is the faith that separates the saints from the rest. It’s not that they were just born holy, but that God worked powerfully in their lives and they worked with Him. They cooperated with His grace and His grace transformed their lives.
Celebrating Sainthood
Today is the great Feast of All Saints. On this day the Church celebrates all of those who fought “the good fight” and lived lives of great faith and heroic virtue, especially those whose names we do not know. What I love about All Saints Day is that although we celebrate the saints in Heaven—all those who now share in the glory of God’s presence—the focus isn’t really on them. We don’t know their names or even their stories, but we do know that through God’s grace they now enjoy eternal life with Him and each other. It’s more of a celebration of God’s work than anything.